Kosrae, the 'Jewel of Micronesia'
Island Hopping through Oceania - Discovering Sleepy Kosrae
Kosrae is sometimes referred to as ‘the jewel of Micronesia’, with its jungle-clad mountains and fringing reef. From certain vantage points, the mountainous spine of the island looks like a sleeping lady, which now acts as something of a mascot for the island. Little-known and little-visited, Kosrae attracts very few tourists, and we were intrigued to learn more about this obscure destination.
The sleeping lady of Kosrae, visible from the Lelu causeway
Arriving in Kosrae
There are no direct flights to Kosrae from outside the region, instead United Airlines makes a stop there as part of its ‘Island Hopper’ service. Linking Hawaii and Guam, the Island Hopper stops en route at Majuro and Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, and Kosrae, Pohnpei and Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). It’s a lifeline for the small states of the FSM, and the only scheduled service to Kosrae and Chuuk.
On landing in Kosrae, the flight attendant announced, “The local time is 1:10. Or it could be 2:10. I’m not sure.” Welcome to Kosrae, so obscure that the flight attendant doesn’t even know the time.
There was only one other person in the foreign passport queue in the tiny airport terminal. The few returning islanders were greeted with bear hugs by their extended family, as we collected our backpacks from the small slide where the ground staff deposited the arriving luggage. We awkwardly maneuvered one of the airport’s ancient luggage trolleys out into the blinding afternoon sun, where we met our driver for the short journey to the cheapest accommodation we could find on the island.
Tofol Hilltop Motel is the cheapest accommodation in Kosrae
Much of Kosrae is in a state of dereliction
The bumpy drive along the island’s main road, towards Tofol Hilltop Motel, passed through dense tropical jungle, with as many roadside properties in a state of dereliction and decay as there were inhabited.
Many of Kosrae's roadside properties are derelict
Hairom, our driver from the motel, explained that of the 12,000 Kosraeans, only 6,000 remained on the island, most of the rest having moved to the US as part of an agreement that allows Micronesian citizens to live and work in the States visa-free.
This depopulation gave the island a slightly sombre, decaying feel, as the jungle gradually reclaimed houses and businesses from owners long departed. Our arrival at the spartan Tofol Hilltop Motel only added to the feeling of desolation. The view over Kosrae’s tiny capital, Tofol, somewhat made up for the grubby walls and sweltering shared kitchen.
Tofol, Kosrae's tiny capital, is predominantly made up of government buildings and the island's secondary school, seen here.
It doesn’t take long to explore Kosrae
With two full days on the island, we decided to split our time. The first day, we decided to rent a car to explore some of Kosrae’s natural sights: waterfalls, a gorge, and the Wiya bird cave. The second day, we planned to check out Kosrae’s top sight; the Lelu Ruins.
So, on our first morning, we rumbled down the steep track from Tofol Hilltop Motel, in the car we’d rented for the day from Hairom, to explore the island. We drove past the lineup of rusting SUVs at the bottom of the track, ferns sprouting through broken windshields and forest vines flowing from the pickup beds, to join the island’s main road.
Kosrae is full of rusting vehicles, with plants sprouting through windows or from the back of pickup trucks
Kosrae’s main road runs from the airport in the north around the eastern side of the island, petering out in Utwe, where an extremely potholed dirt track continues onwards to Walung. Between Walung and the airport lies an impenetrable jungle. As we drove south, we had visions of unexplored forest-shrouded waterfalls and hidden gorges to uncover.
Most of Kosrae’s sights of interest are inaccessible without a guide
The only guidebook with any detail on the four states of Micronesia is the 2006 Lonely Planet guide to the South Pacific and Micronesia, which we referred to when planning our day’s adventures. It just omitted a few essential details. Namely, that you need a guide, permission, and, realistically, a giant machete to visit most sites of interest.
Without this information (which we discovered later at Tofol’s tiny tourist information office), we were in for a pretty unsuccessful day of sightseeing.
First stop: Olum Waterfall. It started promisingly enough, with a sign for the waterfall pointing up a side road. Following the sign, we parked outside the Assembly of God Church, where locals were congregating for the Sunday service. But after walking for less than 15 minutes, we reached the end of the road, at an impenetrable wall of undergrowth.
Returning to the car, we continued south towards our next stop: Sipyen Waterfall. As we neared the waterfall, we hit the potholed dirt road where the asphalt abruptly stops. It was too much for our rental car, so we gave up and turned back north.
At the causeway that led across the reef to the adjacent islet of Lelu, we stopped at our third destination from the guidebook: the Blue Hole. Billed in the guidebook as a great place to snorkel, the scum-filmed water of the Blue Hole was distinctly uninviting.
Staying dry instead, we chatted with two local men munching on a lunch of pizza and fries from nearby Dominic’s Pizza as they threw fries from the pier to the giant fish circling beneath.
Even Kosrae's lagoon contains the wreckage of the past
Further north, the main sights of interest were the myriad abandoned vehicles in varying states of decay, some taken over by forest greenery. Many had trees and ferns sprouting through windshields or from under rusting chassis, and filled gardens and parking lots the length of the island.
At the airport, we posed for photos in front of the concrete Kosrae sign before trying, and again failing due to dense jungle, to reach Tafunsak Gorge.
Tafunsak Gorge was inaccessible through the dense undergrowth, and the village felt like a ghost town
In Kosrae, it's important to ask permission to visit most sights
Wiya Bird Cave was our last stop on this disappointing tour. Although the cave was at least accessible, we felt somewhat put off by the local men who followed us in their car and made us ask for permission to enter. Permission granted, we were able to walk the two minutes to peer into the stinking cesspit of bird shit festering in the base of the cave below the twittering swiftlets nesting in the roof.
Wiya Bird Cave is one of Kosrae's top sights
In the end, one of the most interesting experiences of the day was our visit to the gas station. Despite having a functioning petrol pump, our attendant filled up our rental car with a series of one-gallon containers using a metal funnel.
Hairom later explained to us that the gas stations used the pumps in the past, but as prices gradually increased, the islanders began to suspect they were getting less fuel than they were paying for. As a result, every gas station in Kosrae now uses one-gallon containers, so customers can clearly see the volume of fuel they’re receiving.
Gas stations in Kosrae use one-gallon containers to fill up each vehicle so that customers can confirm they're receiving the correct amount of fuel
The Lelu Ruins are Kosrae’s top sight
We dedicated day two on the island to exploring Kosrae’s top sight: the Lelu Ruins. Overgrown with jungle and nestled behind Lelu’s quiet main street, the ruins were once home to Kosrae’s kings. At its peak during the 15th century, it was home to roughly 1,500 people.
Today, the towering basalt and coral walls are studded with ferns, draped with vines and, in places, topped by forest giants, their roots creeping groundwards over stacked columnar basalt logs. The place is overgrown and distinctly low-key; it almost felt like we were discovering the ruins for the first time.
The towering basalt walls of the Lelu Ruins are covered with ferns and tangled tree roots
On our final night, we watched the sunset over Kosrae’s precipitous jungle-clad hills from our vantage point at Tofol Hilltop Motel. It was a picturesque scene, as the sun’s orange orb dipped behind the forested ridgeline on the other side of the island’s sleepy micro-capital. Kosrae hadn’t wowed us, but it did have a sleepy charm all of its own.
The view from Tofol Hilltop Motel has to be one of the best on the island
This Leg
Days: 3
Flights: 1
Boats: 0
Islands: 1
Countries & Territories: 1
Total
Days: 74
Flights: 17
Boats: 29
Islands: 28
Countries & Territories: 10