Tabiteuea

Tabiteuea Atoll, located in the south of Kiribati, is the second-largest and most populous of the Gilbert Islands after Tarawa. There is one main island, Aanikai, in Tabiteuea North (main village: Uturoa), with several small islets along the atoll’s eastern rim in Tabiteuea South (main village: Buariki). The total population is about 5,300. The name “Tabiteuea” means “no chief allowed”: the island is traditionally egalitarian, without a chief. The huge Atanikarawa maneaba (meeting hall) is in Buota, the northernmost village.

Arriving by dinghy in the village of Terikiai, in Tabiteuea North, the northern island of Tabiteuea atoll.

The dinghy on the beach in the village of Terikiai, in Tabiteuea North.

The Atanikarawa maneaba, the meeting hall in the village of Buota, in Tabiteuea North. It houses the bones of the 18th-century warrior Kourabi, kept in a basket hanging from the roof in the middle of the hall.

A traditional house (buia) in the village of Tewai, in Tabiteuea South.

The maneaba, meeting hall, in Tewai village.

In the village of Tewai, looking towards the lagoon of Tabiteuea South.

Children on the beach of Buariki, in the south of Tabiteuea.

Children of Buariki, with the coral causeway.

View to Buariki, in Tabiteuea South, from the dinghy of the supply ship.