VirtualGlobetrotting: Kiribati Maps & Satellite Images

VirtualGlobetrotting Live View

Nikumaroro
Parabellum (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Parabellum.
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The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), a non-profit organization, made several expeditions to Nikumaroro during the 1990s and 2000s. They investigated documentary, archaeological and anecdotal evidence supporting a hypothesis that in July 1937 Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan landed on Gardner after failing to find Howland Island during one stage of their ill-fated world flight. It was surmised that Earhart might have survived on Nikumaroro for several months before the British survey parties began arriving in 1938, by which time she and Noonan may have succumbed to injuries, hunger or disease. In June 2010, they made a 10th expedition to the island.
In an area on the atoll's northwest side called the "Seven Site" the team has found and cataloged artifacts such as flakes of rouge and a shattered mirror from a woman's cosmetic compact, parts of a folding pocket knife, traces of campfires bearing bird and fish bones, clams opened in the same way as oysters in New England, "empty shells laid out as if to collect rain water" and American bottles dating from before World War II, their heat warped bottoms showing they "had once stood in a fire as if to boil drinking water." A phalanx bone found at the site and examined by forensic anthropologist Karen Ramey Burns will be sent to the Molecular Science Laboratories at Oklahoma University in Norman, Oklahoma for testing as to whether it is turtle or human.

Kiritimati (Christmas Island)
romulusnr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: romulusnr.
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We've seen "ghost plane" shadow images from airplanes all the time, and sometimes "red shadow" on coasts, but I've not seen a "land shadow" like what is visible by enhancing the area of Kiribati here.

Malden Island
AlbinoFlea (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: AlbinoFlea.
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From www.janeresture.com:
Malden Island lies 241 nautical miles south of the equator. It is located 108 miles N.N.E. of Starbuck, 460 miles N.W. of Caroline, 365 miles S.S.E. of Christmas, and 373 miles S.E. of Jarvis Island.
It is a triangular, flat coral island, about 5 miles long (east and west) by 4.1/2 miles wide. Its east-central portion is occupied by a very salty lagoon, the outline of which changes with the tide. The map indicates the high and low water outline as observed by a Bishop Museum party in 1924. The land area is given by the guano company as 10,700 acres, with an additional 9,000 acres of lagoon.
There is evidence that at some time in the past the sea broke through the east rim and flooded a much larger area of the central basin. This is indicated by the dotted line on the map. It is also claimed that the island has risen several feet with reference to sea level. This also would have accounted for a former larger lagoon.
The enclosing ridge is nowhere more than 25 or 30 feet high. Most of the island cannot be seen at a distance of over 7 or 8 miles. There are numerous small, reddish fish in the lagoon which evidently pass through some underground channel to and from the sea.
Malden was discovered July 30, 1825, by Captain Lord Byron, in H.M.S. Blonde. He had just taken to Hawaii the bodies of Kamehameha II and his wife, who had died in England. It was named for Charles Robert Malden, Lieutenant, R. N., who landed and made observations on shore. Andrew Bloxam, naturalist of the Blonde, also landed, and his diary, published in 1925 by Bishop Museum, gives more complete observations than the official narrative of the voyage.
The island was called Independence by Brayton in 1836. The story is told that the extensive guano deposits were discovered by an American whaling master in 1828, but that he decided to finish his cruise before exploiting any of it. Soon after, another whaler came along and noted the layers of guano. Her captain immediately sailed for Sydney, where he sold his discovery for a considerable sum.
Thus was started a series of guano enterprises, which worked the island, with considerable profit, for nearly seventy years. In 1876 there were 79 persons on the island. Just prior to 1889, Messrs. Grice, Drummer and Co., of Victoria, employed 8 Europeans and 150 Polynesians on Malden. Natives of Niue dug and transported the guano, and Cook Islanders from Aitutaki handled the boats. Water had to be distilled by means of condensers in dry years. Coconuts, planted by the guano diggers, grew for a few years and then died.
Malden was claimed by Americans under the Guano Act of 1856, but by then the Australian firm already was established there. On January 1, 1922, Malden was leased to Malden Island Pty. Ltd. of Melbourne, for 21 years, but they did not stay out their lease, and the island has been abandoned during the past few years.

Starbuck Island
pak555 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: pak555.

Bay of Wrecks
Mike1989 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Mike1989.
The Bay of Wrecks is a large bay which extends along the northeast coast of Kiritimati Island in Kiribati from Banana to Aeon Point. It is so named as it was a notable hazard to shipping, especially during the 19th century.

Maneaba ni Maungatabu (Kiribati Parliament House)
kaiken (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kaiken.

Bonriki Int'l Airport (TRW / NGTA)
cmike77 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: cmike77.

Butaritari (a.k.a. Makin)
kjfitz (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kjfitz.
Butaritari (previously known as Makin, Pitt Island, Taritari Island, or Touching Island) is an atoll located in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati.
Butaritari was a place of residence for Robert Louis Stevenson in his quest for a new life and the subject of a subsequent story. In his book In The South Seas he devotes the majority of the second half to his observations and history of Butaritari and Makin.
Butaritari atoll was the site of the Makin Raid in August 1942, when two companies of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion landed from the submarines USS Argonaut and USS Nautilus, as a feint to draw Japanese attention away from the planned invasion route through the Solomons. While they annihilated the local garrison, they failed in their initial objectives of taking prisoners and gathering intel.

Taboiaki Village's Maneaba (meeting house)
kaiken (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kaiken.
The largest maneaba in Kiribati

Cassidy International Airport (CXI)
adrbr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: adrbr.

Tabiteuea North Airport (NGTE)
cmike77 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: cmike77.

Banaba Island
Xeba73 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Xeba73.
Banaba Island, an island in the Pacific Ocean, is a solitary raised coral island west of the Gilbert Island chain and 185 miles (298 km) east of Nauru. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. It has an area of 6.0 km², and the highest point on the island is also the highest point in Kiribati, at 81 metres (266 ft) high. Along with Nauru and Makatea (French Polynesia), it is one of the important elevated phosphate rich islands of the Pacific.

Abaiang Atoll Airport (ABF)
adrbr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: adrbr.

First land to welcome the new year
kkeps (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kkeps.
The first land on Earth that welcomed in the new year was this secluded tropical beach on uninhabited Caroline Island – sorry, Millennium Island, the easternmost outpost of the Pacific island nation of Kiribati. Since Kiribati spans both sides of the 180° meridian, it has decided to push the international Date Line two time zones east to the eastern boundary of the country so that all of its residents operate on the same day.

Old Parliament House
kaiken (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kaiken.

Canton Airport (CIS)
adrbr (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: adrbr.

Ukiangong Point
kkeps (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kkeps.
Ukiangong Point is the southwestern-most point on Butaritari atoll located in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati. It is located on the islet of Tabonohobi.
Ukiangong Point was fired upon by the USS Nautilus shortly after 7 AM on August 17, 1942, after the submarine had dropped Lieutenant Colonel Evans F. Carlson's Marine Raiders for their approach to Little Makin as part of the Makin Raid. Later in the war, the capture of Ukiangong point was an early objective in the U.S. Army's assault on Butaritari on November 20, 1943.

Heart

WWII Japanese gun
mlc1us (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: mlc1us.

Scary eyes
hhgygy (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: hhgygy.
Found NW of Malden Island

Arorae Island Airport (AIS)

Butaritari Atoll Airport (BBG)
kkeps (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: kkeps.

Abaiang Island
tallturtle82 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: tallturtle82.
Abaiang Island is one of 33 reef islands and atolls that make up Kiribati.
Direct link below.

Abemama Atoll Airport (AEA)

Aranuka Airport (AAK)

Marakei Airport (MZK)

Runway on Kiritimati
fin (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: fin.
Homeless runway in the middle of nowhere.

Kanton Island

Orona

Crashed UFO ?
pak555 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: pak555.
UFO? It's got what even looks like a crash landing type of stripe …
Maybe. But he is not. Who knows.

London, Kiribati
Fab (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Fab.

Paris, Kiribati
Fab (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Fab.

Poland, Kiribati
Fab (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Fab.

Tabuaeran Island Airport
IATA: TNV, ICAO: PLFA

Motoia Hospital
pak555 (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: pak555.

Marakei Atoll

Vostok Island

Flint Island

Onotoa

Motu Tabu

Abemama Atoll

Aranuka Atoll

Malden Island Airstrip
The runway built on Royal Engineers Island in 1956-57 in connection with a series of British thermonuclear bomb tests.

Makin Airport
IATA: MTK, ICAO: NGMN

Cook Island

Tabiteuea South Airport
IATA: TSU, ICAO: NGTS

Tamana Island

Tarawa Atoll (OC-017)
Mike_bjm (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Mike_bjm.
Between 9 April 2023 and 30 April 2023, a team of amateur radio operators from the Rebel DX Group were on Tarawa Atoll. Most of the Group’s activity took place from North Tarawa.
The team used the callsign – T30 while on the island and had planned to be activate on all amateur radio bands from 160m to 10m.
Tarawa is in the Republic of Kiribati which is a group of islands in the Central Pacific Ocean. North Tarawa is formed from a string of tiny islets which are separated by shallow channels which can be crossed at low tide. The atoll’s lagoon is very large having an area of 500 square kilometres.
Amateur Radio Reference Data:
DXCC: T30 – W. Kiribati (Gilbert Is.)
IOTA: OC-017 – Gilbert Islands
CQ Zone: 31
ITU Zone: 65

Washington Island (or Teraina)

Nikunau Island

Beru Island

Motu Upou

Kuria Atoll

Nonouti Airport (NGTO)

Maiana Airport (NGMA)
ICAO: MNK, ICAO: NGMA

Kuria Airport (NGKT)

Ocean Island - Phosphate Extraction
Mike_bjm (VirtualGlobetrotting)
By: Mike_bjm.
Ocean Island, also known as Banaba Island, has been ruthlessly exploited for its rich phosphate deposits.
The destruction of Ocean Island is another sad story of colonial exploitation and lack of consideration for the indigenous population.
Much of the phosphate land of the Ocean Island was literally taken from the Banabans and loaded into ships to support agriculture in Australia and New Zealand.
The British Phosphate Commission and its predecessor, the British Phosphate Company, paid huge dividends to its shareholders while by the time its operations ceased 22 million tonnes of land had been removed from Ocean Island.

Washington Island Airstrip
IATA: TNQ, ICAO: PLWN

Arorae Island

Maiana Atoll

Nikunau Airport (NGNU)

Nonouti

Onotoa Airport (NGON)

Tamana Airport (NGTM)

Beru Airport (NGBR)