New Caledonia: Prisoners in Paradise

By Roberta Sotonoff

Between 1864 and the early 1900s, New Caledonia was a French penal colony. I can’t figure out how spending time amid swaying palms, verdant landscape, white sand beaches and lucent blue waters can be punishment. In fact, I recently spent time there and will say I would endure such slings and arrows of outrageous fortune any time it is meted out. The islands are paradise.

I must admit. I did suffer a bit—on the journey over there. You see, the New Caledonia Islands are located about 850 miles northeast of Fiji and about 1,950 miles southwest of Australia. That’s at least a four-movie flight, give or take a few short subjects. Then there are two flight changes and a five hour layover in the Fiji airport before arriving at Noumea, the islands’ capital. Even though being in a plane for that long seems like a prison sentence, for me and the other 1,000 Americans that visit each year, it is worth the aerial incarceration.

People who endure the journey are happy they did. The islands are surrounded by the world’s largest lagoon, more coral than on the Barrier Reef and over 2,000 species of fish. Though there are good accommodations, it isn’t one of those glitzy places where beach hawkers won’t leave you alone and tons of T-shirt shops line the streets.

Slightly smaller than New Jersey, this lush island’s economy doesn’t depend on tourism. It has about 25% of the earth’s nickel. Though visiting the mines is really not an option, the Tjibaou Culture Center is.

One cannot help but be awestruck by the culture center’s architecture. The 10 Kanak “huts” — the tallest which is almost 92 feet high–are patterned after the interior of a traditional house, but really look like giant sails. Exhibits include the Kanak people — Melanesians who migrated here 34,000 years ago–history, contemporary culture and artwork. The lines and dots of some of the paintings resemble Australian aboriginal art. Everything inside the “man’s house” is off limits to women even though everything within it was woven by them.

Snorkeling and diving are gimmes on a tropical island. But if you prefer to stay dry, you can appreciate NC’s underwater life at Noumea’s Aquarium des Lagoons. Imprisoned behind glass are creatures that dwell within New Caledonia’s fresh, brackish and ocean water. The aquarium is one of the few places where you can see a live nautilus or the aqua-colored, humphead wrasse. This fellow, dubbed Leon, can reach a weight as of 421 lbs. Even sharks won’t mess with him. It is fascinating the way he stares at visitors with human-like eyes.

For a different kind of island experience, hire probably the best English-speaking guide on the island, François Tran of Caledonia Tours. He knows the islands inside out and will take you to La Rivière Bleue Park (Blue River Park), a popular hiking destination on the west side of the island. This lush area, that exhibits every imaginable shade of green, is home to the cagou, one of the world’s rarest birds. These flightless, white birds, with their feathered pigtail, roam alongside the road. At the Yaté Lake, eerie looking, leafless trees stand imprisoned in the middle of the lake. They are part of the Drowned Forest which was created when the Yaté River was dammed. Our hilltop lunch is a feast of venison, sausages, couscous and salad, accompanied by the sounds of the Blue River’s rushing water and cawing parrots in the treetops. Nearby is Le Grand Kaoui, a 1,000 year-old tree with a trunk that is almost nine feet in diameter

On the way back, François sings the praises of the Isle of Pines. The pristine island is everything you’d imagine a South Pacific Island to be. At St. Joseph Bay, we board an outrigger that looks to be the age of our 66-year-old captain, Tophile. He has made the sails himself. As we glide across the water, the sun blankets our skin and wind blows our hair.

Later, we take a 45-minute walk from Le Meridien to a natural lake. There’s much slogging through bush, mud and water to get there. Then we wade out 150 feet through shallow water and immerse in the chilly water to snorkel. What we see is stunning: giant sea cucumbers, sea urchins, colorful fish and different kinds of corals including snake-like iridescent blue and green ones.

These are some of the things the prisoners might have seen. Not a bad incarceration, especially if it includes NC’s other specialties, French wine and those fabulous croissants.