Added: 05/31/2006 |
Tokelau holidays: the destination where nature governs lifestyleTokelau is a group of three coral atolls in the South Pacific Ocean. Once you arrive to the islands, get ready to come back in a month, as a cargo ship travels there from Samoa once a month. No other transportation is available. However, Tokelau holidays may become the most unusual holidays in your life, when all your senses will be soaked deep in the nature, ocean and sun.
The best time for Tokelau holidays is from April to October; this season is not hot and rainy. There are no banks on Tokelau; thus, you should bring cash - NZ dollars or Samoan talas.
Accommodation must be booked before you arrive in Tokelau, either with a hotel or a local family. There are only several places to stay and the facilities are rather simple. All islands are owned; hence, you should get a permission to visit them.
What do tourists do on Tokelau holidays? There is not plenty to do here, though Tokelau is one of most secluded and intimate places on our earth, allowing you to merge with nature and feel every touch of a warm salty breeze, heady sea and pleasantly pinching sun.
Tokelau holidays are quite challenging. The trip aboard a cargo ship from Samoa takes around thirty six hours, and as there is no safe harbor, the ship anchors offshore while passengers and cargo are transferred via small boats and dinghies. In addition, the atolls have a lack of fresh water. Nevertheless, to compensate all that, on your holidays in Tokelau you will pamper under palm trees, snorkel coral reefs rimming the islands, go fishing and diving.
All three inhabited atolls, Atafu, Fakaofo and Nukunonu, organize community discos and weekly bingo. Look at the local lifestyle and relax as the islands' inhabitants do! Learn almost untouched Polynesian culture and see how daily the council of elders and family representatives orders the daily life of villagers. Women are responsible for cooking, village cleanness and health, and men together supply their families with fish and take care of harvests. All resources are shared between families in accordance with their need.
The lifestyle and culture is actually fascinating and for many visitors Tokelau holidays are a visit to a different world, filled with great respect to elders and a strong feeling of community and even patriotism. Each atoll has one village and all three villages are divided territorially into two so-to-say teams, which compete against each other in singing, dancing, fishing and village cricket.
Nevertheless, Tokelau is not the land of aborigines still eating fresh meat and painting their bodies with different colors. Perhaps, the major feature, effectively assimilated from the civilization, is religion.
Tokelau is Christian, split into Protestant and Catholic, and the locals honor all Christian traditions and preserve all ceremonies. They visit churches ( there are churches) and do not work on Sunday as well as obey all commands. Tokelau kids go to school and learn English; many locals speak English fairly well.
Tokelau has a radiotelephone service between the islands and to Samoa, and each atoll has a radiobroadcast station. Recently... Tokelau gained an access to the Internet communication, which is now free for everyone.
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