Christmas Island - Culture

Kiritimati (Christmas) Island, has the largest land area of coral atoll in the world, with about 321sq km of land. A large tidal lagoon with an area of about 160sq is situated at the western end of the island. At the eastern end of this lagoon, there are a series of several hundreds of lands-locked lagoons, which cover a total land area of about 168sq km.

If you love nature, you will love Kiritimati Island! 63% of it is national park containing species of flora & fauna found nowhere else in the world! Probably the most noticeable local is the Red Crab with over 100 million of these vivid red creatures living on the forest floor.

Kiritimati Island provides visitors with sport fishing, bird watching and cultural tours. Exploring the waters surrounding the island is an experience not to be missed. Myriads of tropical fish swim by in only metres of water, while a short distance away, divers can cruise the drop-off which plunges dramatically into the abyss. You may even bump into one of our local spinner dolphins or at certain times of the year meet the majestic whale shark!

At the onset of the wet, which is their breeding season, most of the adult Red Crabs begin their migration down to the sea. This is a truly spectacular sight with the entire island appearing to come alive. The males appear to lead the migration and they take between five to seven days to reach the shore terraces. When they arrive they will fight for territory and burrow into the soil, waiting for the arrival of the females. The females arrive a few days later. They copulate and about two weeks after the arrival of the first males, the females, now laden with spawn, appear on the shoreline. The breeding activity is synchronised throughout the island and is dependent on the moon's cycle, the crab's eggs being released around the last quarter of the moon. Sadly there is a down side to this migration. About 700,000 to one million Red Crabs are killed by vehicles while on the move. This, in a population of about 100 million, makes it a one- percent death rate.