Share this...

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Linkedin

The Least Visited Country in the World; Travel to Nauru

What is the least visited country in the world? Officially Nauru (although on my list of the least visited countries in the world, Nauru comes with an asterisk!) A small country in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (one of the smallest countries in the world, in fact), with a population of 12,000 people and about 200 tourists per year. 

But what about things to do in Nauru? Not a whole lot! BUT, there is running the entire 19.5km road around the whole island, almost a half marathon, that was the one big-ticket item I was keen to achieve on my visit to Nauru, the least visited country on earth. So as soon as I arrived in Nauru, I checked-in to my guest house and worked out my run! Move on down to the bottom of the article to read about my run around Nauru or the top half for information about travelling and visiting Nauru. 

How Do You Get to Nauru?

It’s the Least Visited Country in the World, so expect it to be expensive! You have to fly, there are no boats. You can fly to Nauru from Brisbane, Kiribati, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, or Fiji. The cheaper way is to fly from either Brisbane or Fiji. Factor in somewhere between $1,000USD to $2,000USD for return flights to Nauru. It’s expensive!

Personally, having spent months in the Pacific Islands over two separate trips, I had left Nauru to almost my last country in the region. It was partly because it didn’t hold a huge amount of interest for me, and also that the return flight from Fiji costs $1300 AUD. But eventually, in my quest to visit every country in the world, I’d hit it, and it was time! I was using Fiji (Nadi airport) as my hub to visit all the Pacific countries, and I paid about $1000USD for my flights. 

How to Get A Visa for Nauru? Step by Step

Every country apart from the Pacific Island nations + Russia and UAE need a visa for Nauru. The process is simple but infuriating! Here’s how to get a visa for Nauru, step by step. This is the process I went through, in reality. Not just something from their website, I’d recommend following the same procedure!

1) Email

You have to email immigration at naura.consulate@brisbane.gov.nr, visa@naurugov.nr and director.information@naurugov.nr. Their official page is here. You should email all 3 separately and declare your intention to come to Nauru. 

NOTE: They rarely reply! You may have to email, and email again, and again. Chase them up, or you’ll never get to Nauru.

2) Fill in the form and reply

Finally, when someone replies, they’ll hopefully email you the visa application form (you may have to email again to get that), and then they’ll ask you to email them back with the following. 

• A copy of your passport
• Passport photo (white background)
• Hotel booking (I actually managed this without the booking to be honest, there are only 2 hotels, so you may be able to just tell them where you plan to stay)
• Copies of your flights (again I hadn’t booked yet, but I printed out the flights that I intended to take once I had my visa processed, and that worked)
• $50AUD (about $40USD) – I can’t remember how I paid this, maybe I filled my credit card details on the application form. It slips my mind, to be honest. Sorry guys!

3) Wait, and then wait some more

Wait. And wait somewhere. Email them constantly, but be respectful and friendly always. These guys can choose to accept or reject your application, remember that. 

4) Download your attachment

Eventually (for me it took 2 months!) you get an email with an attachment, you bring that attachment with you when you fly from Brisbane, or Fiji, and they let you board. Then you get stamped into Nauru on arrival, after showing them that piece of paper. 

Is Nauru REALLY the Least Visited Country in the World?

Officially yes. In that, it has the least amount of TOURISTS per year of all the countries. However, there are a lot of Australians working here, thousands, which means in practice it’s not the least visited. It’s just the least visited BY TOURISTS. If you want to see the real list of the 30 least visited countries in the world, I blogged it HERE. (and the MOST visited countries in the world? I blogged that HERE).

Why Visit Nauru? 5 Things to See and Do in Nauru

Number 1 is that it’s the least visited country in the world. That is a huge attraction for me, and roughly another 199 people each year! Nauru, however, isn’t Fiji, or Tahiti, or Tonga. It’s not as beautiful as many of the other Pacific countries, and it’s not set up for tourism in any way comparable to the other countries. In fact, Australia uses it as their ‘port’ for dealing with illegal immigration, so the island has a strange vibe.

That all being said, it’s still beautiful. And it’s a fascinating destination. That, as one of the smallest countries in the world, it has one ring road circling the entire island/country. And you can run it! All 19km or so. There aren’t a lot of things to do in Nauru, so I figured on my trip here, I’d do just that.

Here are my Top 5 things to see in Nauru:

1. Run around the island
2. Check out Parliament building
3. Visit the World War 2 relics
4. Climb Command Ridge, Nauru’s highest point
5. Swim in Anibore Harbour

Running around Naura; AKA The Nauru ‘Half-Marathon’

Last Winter I was in the worse shape of my life, the best part of a year in West and Central Africa had taken its toll on me. Comfort eating, too many casual beers, and no motivation to exercise as I was bogged down with the stresses, corruption and danger of travelling through every country in Africa. Follow that up with Christmas in Ireland with my family, New Years Reunion in Dublin with some of my best friends and you can quickly see how I managed to pile on the pounds, all the way to 85kgs+. So disappointed in myself. Never again.

I knew, however, about the ‘Nauru half marathon’ (not an official event, I just named it that to keep myself motivated), and running 19. 5km is no joke. With little to do in Nauru, I wanted to run around the island so much, so I used my month in the other Pacific Island countries that I was travelling through, lleading up to Nauru to try to get back in shape, running 5km to 10km every day in the sweltering heat hoping I could pull it off, kick the belly into touch and be in ok condition to try to run around this strange, tiny country.

Wild Dogs in Nauru

March 19^th 2016 soon came, and I was ready to give it a bash. I don’t think I’ve ever run this far before (EDIT 2020 to prove life begins at 33, I’ve since run the Marathon Des Sables, 6 marathons in 6 days through the Sahara desert, and the North Pole Marathon) , so to attempt it when I’m still out of shape was probably stupid. Or more likely, my male ego told me I could do it. 32-year-old man thinking he’s still 22, that’s me. Stubborn and proud!

I had told a few of the hotel staff my plans to run around the whole of Nauru, and they instantly told me it was an idiotic idea and that there were horrible wild dogs all across the island.

“Bring a huge stick, and a handful of rocks, the wild dogs will bite you, it happens every day”  

“A girl was killed by wild dogs last year”

“Cycle instead, the dogs have rabies here too, and the hospital is full of asbestos, awful standard” 

I was already pretty stressed about not being fit enough to do it, now I was seriously reconsidering the run at all. Is it worth it? To lose half my calve muscle in the jaws of some feral dog? Or even worse, get rabies? Eurrrgh. It was the one thing I wanted to do here though. Hmmm.

Detention Centres

I’m not good at listening to people’s advice, so 2 days later, I went for a warm-up run, planning to do the big one the next day I ran 10km into the interior of the island, where I saw huge, ugly phosphate mines and the entrance to the Australian Detention centres (the two main sources of Nauru’s income), these two places have created a very weird atmosphere on the island. More on that later.

Anyway, it’s bloody hot in Nauru, and the 10km felt like it nearly killed me. The next day was going to be a struggle. I planned to wake up at 7am, and head off as soon as possible, hoping to be back around 9 or 10 am when the sun and heat would really starting punishing me. Nice plan in theory.

What’s more is that my accommodation was dingy as hell. There are only three hotels on the island, and they had made a mistake with my booking, they were all full. After begging and pleading, I get put in the ‘overspill room ‘for $100AUD per night, no hot water, power cuts, ants, and rats. This would not be a nice place to recover in. But, life on the road meant I had no choice. So I go to sleep in my dingy room, forget to set my alarm, and sleep like a baby.

Race Day in the World’s Least Visited Country

10am I wake up, it’s already roasting hot, my aircon has broken and I wake up sweating. SHIT. This is my only full day, so I have no choice but to do it today, I gotta go. I pull on my running gear, have an awful processed-ham sandwich for brunch, and hit the road around 10.30 am. I planned to do break the race into thirds, 6.5km then water break, 6.5km then water break, 6.5km then water break. Breaking challenges down into small benchmarks has always worked for me, and when you’re trying to visit 197 countries over a decade, you need that skill for sure.

As soon as I set off, it was ridiculously hot and I was drenched in sweat after about ten minutes. This is gonna be tougher than I thought. The night before, I had eaten some truly awful Chinese food for dinner, but that was around 6 pm, so I was running with only the dodgy sandwich I had for breakfast as fuel, not great preparation.

The food choices leading up to my run are forced upon you in Nauru. Nauru is unfortunately officially the fattest country in the world, with the highest diabetes rate in the world. They sold their country out to phosphate mining and it has destroyed their land and their topsoil, so now they can’t really grow anything other than a few coconuts, and some bananas. The only food they do have access to has to be shipped in from Australia, meaning fresh produce is almost non-existent. Fruit and veg? Either extortionately priced (I’m talking watermelons for $100 kinda expensive), or simply not present. So it’s processed meat from cans, sketchy Chinese food laced with MSG or nothing. Great.

Hot and sweaty

As I’m running, I’m thinking about ill-prepared I am for this, and how I always make these stupid decisions, assuming I can do anything. Frustrated with myself, I speed up as a kind of punishment. I managed to reach the first 6.5km checkpoint after about 45mins, but I was truly knackered already. I started to make excuses in my mind – this is crazy, it’s too hot to run, it’s dangerous. I’m gonna be so sunburnt, that’s really bad, I’ll be suffering for days. There’s gonna be so many wild dogs and I’m gonna get bitten around the next bend. It’s better I just quit, say I gave it a try, but maybe next time when I’m properly prepared. Terrible attitude to be frank.

 I sucked it up. Took a five-minute break, and hit the road again. The second leg began.

It was getting hotter, and hotter, and hotter though. People were looking at me like I was some sort of alien. “What’s this weird white dude running at almost midday? Does he have a death wish”. Trying to focus though. Small checkpoints created every minute or two. The next corner I’ll check Google maps again. In nine minutes, I’m allowed to check my progress. Mini-goals all the way.

Aaaand the dogs

A few packs of dogs were around, and when they see you running, they attack you, they love nothing more than to sink their teeth into a running victim apparently. Charming. I was under strict guidelines to stop running when I see any dogs on the scene dogs. So turning a corner, I finally come across them. I did just that, stopped running, walking briskly, but still three of them came at me. Perhaps stupidly, I didn’t carry a strick, or any rocks. I could barely talk I was so tired, carrying a stick for 19km? Not happening. Thankfully, two ladies came to my rescue and scared them off, chucking rocks at that, laughing hysterically, and on I went.

Leg two done. 13km down, 1 hour 30 mins gone, two-thirds of the way there. I wasn’t going to break any records, that’s for sure! And I was seriously tired, my legs were aching and I wanted to quit, but I had passed halfway, so I knew there was no chance of that. I had reached the airport, and stupidly took a wrong turn and added another kilometre and a half to my journey. I didn’t know it at the time thankfully, but the next day, driving back to the airport, I noticed it, I had to laugh. If I had worked it out when I was flagging, I would have quit on the spot, I reckon.

Sunburn kicking in, tshirt off and wrapped around my head and neck to try to minimize the burn, and fairly spread the damage across the rest of my body! 5-minute water break, more wild dogs, off for the last leg.

Last push

That last section was a killer, it seemed so far. And when a tropical storm hit the island, everyone ran for cover. Expect me. I was absolutely delighted. It gave me the last push I need so when I finally stumbled into my hotel, I had done it. Completed my longest ever run, no dog bites or third-degree sunburn, I flopped into the shower and sat in there with the cold tap on for about twenty minutes. Then a long-deserved nap.

Anyway, now I’m on a flight to Fiji, I’ve left Nauru behind. Legs absolutely aching, stinking clothes shoved into my backpack, still wet. Nauru has been an interesting stop, that’s for sure. I’ve written a little more about my opinion on Nauru below here, so have a look and make the decision for yourself. But of course, if you wanna share the bragging rights about running around a whole country, then get here soon as possible. Until then, I’ll be bragging alone! Safe travels!

TIPS ON HOW TO RUN AROUND NAURU

1. Eat properly the day before and the morning of the run. Carb load. 
2. Get a proper night’s sleep/
3. Wake up early to start, 5.30am would be a winner
4. If you’re fit enough, bring a stick, or at least some rocks to throw at the crazy dogs
5. Break it into legs, you need the water breaks in the crazy humidity
6. Download your journey on Google maps before you go
7. Wear sunscreen

The 19.5km ‘Running Track’ Around The Least Visited Country in the World:

Thoughts on Visiting Nauru, least visited country in the world? A short history.

Nauru, I can honestly say, was one of the weirdest countries I’ve ever visited. It’s the smallest independent Republic in the world (the Vatican City and Monaco are indeed smaller, but not entirely independent), and it has gone from being one of the richest countries in our planet per capita to one of the poorest, due to one thing. Phosphate mining. They discovered phosphate across much of the country 70 years ago and sold out to Australia. The good times were enjoyed by all, with no view to the finite nature of a resource like this on a tiny country, by either the Government or the people themselves, spending was excessive and now, the money is pretty much gone.

Not to mention a huge chunk of that wealth got sucked into a Brisbane-run pyramid scheme, recommended by the Government officials no less, so lots of locals pumped their new wealth into a get-rich-quick scheme, and it soon disappeared. Now the phosphate is running out, the rumours are they have ten years worth of mining max, poverty is rife and it’s sad to see.

Australian Money

The Australians have come again though. Every asylum seeker, economic migrant or refugee, attempting to illegally enter Australia, gets sent to Nauru for ‘processing’, which essentially means getting flown to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, living in detention centres here in Nauru for years on end while Australia works out a plan. A select few Nauruan’s are making an absolute fortune from all this (corruption and the ‘old boys club’ is part of the lifestyle), renting their land for the detention centres for millions of dollars.

All the ex-pat staff for Australian organisations renting accommodation for $3k a month, when most people earn $500 a month for full-time work, although, with the world’s highest unemployment rate (90%+), people are eking by on less than that. There is no trickle-down at all. The President is vastly wealthy AND  decided to leave the country he is governing, Nauru, and now lives in very comfortable Brisbane, in luxury. He flies back a lot though, so that’s fine apparently. Great guy, right? Hmm.

Refugees

All-in-all, the energy in Nauru is not running on positive vibes. The refugees don’t want to be there, the ex-pats are generally there for their six-figure salaries while they count their days until they can get off the island, the locals who I spoke to dream of a life in Australia instead, the supermarkets are empty due to how remote the place is, and the cost of everything is more than Europe. Sexual assault, misogyny and violent alcoholism are all part and parcel of weekly life here. I went to a bar on a Saturday night and saw a lot of it first hand. Very uncomfortable.

The Chinese run a lot of the commerce here – restaurants, stores etc, and although the Nauruan’s complain about their presence, the country wouldn’t function without them. Motivated, entrepreneurial, diligent, perhaps less animosity towards them, and trying to be a little more like them would drag this country forward. Until then, it’s waiting for the next Australian organization to arrive with a paycheque. I would go as far as to say that Nauru is a great case study for ‘aid’, where people become used to handouts and aren’t willing to work hard to better their situation.

Those wild dogs

One great example is that due to the wild dog problem, the government has promised anyone who catches a wild dog will be given $50 per dog. They are all over the island, causing problems. Now if this happened in almost any other nation in the world, the dogs would be gone in a week, people wanting a better situation for their family would be out hunting dogs all day and night. In Nauru? Not one dog has been caught, yet people are sitting around all day, with nothing to do, complaining about finances. Like I said, very strange energy permeates the air. And on a personal level, I love self-starters, I love people and countries who drag themselves up, improve their situation, are proactive, laziness grates me. So the dog situation, I find infuriating, to be honest.

How Many People Visit Nauru Each Year?

Between 150-200m, making it the least visited country in the world officially. Because almost everyone needs a visa, it’s easy to track. 160 in 2018 for example. That being said, there are a lot of Australians who live and work there, so I was still surprised how many foreigners were on the island. It’s different from a place like Micronesia, where you really are often the only foreigner in the country!

Should You Visit Least Visited Country in the World; Nauru?

If you’re a bit weird, like me, then the chance to visit the LEAST visited country in the world is too good to turn down, so in that case, yes you should visit. Don’t expect too much to see and do though. Also, to run around a whole country – again, really cool. Nauru is in a tricky situation, and when the phosphate finally runs out, and the Australians pull out from the detention centre policy, I worry about the future for this tiny nation. 

PS. if you like this kinda stuff, Check out my 6 marathons through the Sahara in the Marathon des Sables, THAT was tough! And neither my North Pole Marathon experience or my recent 200km ultramarathon run weren’t easy either!