Unnecessary to say, but it is far from where you are. Far away, far from home, unless you live in Tokelau, of course. To get to Tokelau you need a 37 hrs boat trip from Apia, West Samoa. This is the only way to get there. It is approximately the same time you need for four trips between NYC and Amsterdam by plane, or if you prefer a more active form of travelling through Europe like cycling, you could get from Belgium to Spain and back in about the same time. There are approximately 500 people on each of Tokelau's three atolls.
Tokelau consists of three large atolls 480 km north of Western Samoa (Tokelau means 'north' in the Polynesian language). The central atoll, Nukunonu, is 92 km from Atafu and 64 km from Fakaofo.
So this is it. Another mystery revealed.
Nukunonu is the largest atoll in both land, and lagoon area. The village is divided into two parts by a reef pass spanned by a bridge. The Rhinoceros beetle, a pest that attacks coconut trees, has established itself here.
Atafu is the smallest of the atolls, it's lagoon only totals 17 square km (compared to 50 square km on Fakaofo and 98 square at Nukunonu). This is the most traditional of the islands, the only one where dugout canoes are still made. The village is at the northwest corner of the atoll.
The atoll of Fakaofo totals 50 square km. Some 400 people live on the tiny four-and-a-half-hectare Fale Island, which is well shaded by breadfruit trees. In 1960, a second village was established on the larger island of Fenuafala, about three km northwest, to relieve the overcrowding. At low tide you can walk across the reef between the two.
