In the Pacific Ocean there is a city named Nan Madol consisting of 92 artificial islands. No-one knows how they were made and only 1000 people visit the place each year. On our journey to this hidden paradise we ran into a stingray and the princess of Pohnpei herself.
Nan Madol is located on the island Pohnpei in the Pacific Ocean. Getting there is far from easy. CNN listed the flight to Pohnpei as one of the longest flights in the world. There is one flight a day on an island hopper between Guam and Honolulu; going eastward one day and westward the next. This is probably the main reason why as little as 1000 people get to experience this hidden gem each year. We described the tiny nation ourselves as the strangest countries we have ever visited.
So, what makes Nan Madol such a special place? The city was constructed between 1000 and 400 years ago on a coral reef outside Pohnpei. It was built by basalt rock shaped like long logs, each log weighing up to 50 metric tons. This kind of rock is not found anywhere near the city and one theory is that it was transported from another island; another theory is that there used to be a mountain on the island that was broken down to build the city. Regardless of where the rocks came from nobody has a clue how the huge blocks were transported by a civilisation that only had canoes and ropes to help them. The rock logs were not put together like we are used to from regular masonry either, but rather like you would put together a notched log cabin. A total of 92 islands were constructed weighing between 500 000 and 750 000 tons in total!
Getting to Nan Madol from the town Kolonia, (the only place on the island with a population density worth mentioning) takes about one hour with a car, or “it’s going to be a long drive” as our guide said. It takes little more than two hours to drive around the entire island, so relatively speaking it might be considered a long drive… At the end of the road there is a path of coral leading to Nan Madol.
Most areas on Pohnpei are privately owned. The area around Nan Madol is no exception and you have to pay a small fee to pass through. This particular area is owned by one of the five kings on the island and the fee is given to his daughter, in other words a true princess of Pohnpei!
Superstition is a key element of the Pohnpeian culture. Because of this no one dares to remove the vegetation around Nan Madol and the whole area looks like it’s taken straight out of an Indiana Jones movie. As we approach the main island we are made aware of three rocks in the water and told not to touch them. Allegedly they were three princes that were turned to stone. If you touch them you will suffer the same faith and die.
Further on there is a hole leading into the ground. According to the locals it is a tunnel leading to other islands from here. However, nobody can confirm this as evil spirits reside there, and if you enter the tunnel you will die. Our guide explains that a team of “ghostbusters” came here a few years ago. They entered the tunell and all died in accidents shortly after…
One of the other islands is (again, according to locals) inhabited by ghosts. As we pass by in a boat the captain turns off the engine and we drift silently by. If you disturb the ghosts you will… yes, you guessed right, you will die.
Despite this superstition with death and all kinds of bad things the area itself is amazingly beautiful and the locals are very friendly. There are white beaches and mangrove forests as far as one can see; and in the water we spot a stingray swimming around.
The final stop is a narrow canal overgrown by mangroves. A path rises from the sea into the forest on one of the islands leading to a graveyard. A pile of ashes taller than anything one can imagine is supposed to be located here. As with much else we cannot enter the island because it is a holy place. In many ways it is frustrating to not be able to explore all of these special places, but at the same time most would probably turn out to be nothing more than superstition and made up stories anyways. But this is exactly what makes Nan Madol such as special place. It is one of the few places in the world that is inhabited by humans, yet not fully explored and mapped, where one can dream about magical stories and supernatural events that can neither be confirmed nor debunked. If you love travelling and exploring new places, can it get more exiting than this?
