Suwarrow

Template: Infobox Atoll / Maintenance / height Missing

Suwarrow also called Suvorov or Suvarov, is an atoll in the northern part of the Cook Islands. It is located about 1,300 kilometers south of the equator and 825 kilometers northwest of Rarotonga, from which it is managed. The atoll has dimensions of 15.3 × 12.8 km and has a land area of only 0.4 km ². The two largest islands of the atoll are Anchorage Iceland and Motu Tou.

History

The atoll was uninhabited when it was discovered on September 17, 1814 by the crew of the Russian ship " Suvorov ". After that, the island was inhabited only for a shorter time. During World War II lived there, among other things, the writer Robert Dean Frisbie as a naval observer. Frisbie has described his experiences on in the novel "The Iceland of Desire ". Frisbie left the island in 1942, after a hurricane devastated 16 of the 22 islands of the atoll. Remained were domestic chickens and pigs, the wild on the islands.

Also, the New Zealander Tom Neale lived as Robinson on Suwarrow after the war Frisbie vorschwärmte him from his dream island. So he packed his possessions in 1952, covered himself extensively of 79 pounds, and arrived on Suwarrow. He stayed until 1954 and was found sick from a vorbeischippernden yacht for a herniated disc. Only in 1960 he came to the island again and this time remained until 1963, when he believed, for reasons of age (he was now 65 years old) no longer cope alone. In 1967, he finally returned a third time and remained until 1977, before he fell ill with stomach cancer at the age of 75 years. He died within a few months in the hospital of Rarotonga. His experience, he wrote in 1966 on Rarotonga in the report "An Iceland to Oneself " down. The German title is " South Sea island of dreams " from the series of outdoor manual and was supplemented by the German explorers, Rollo Gebhard, the editor and his daughter from Rarotonga.

National park

In 1978 the island was then declared a national park in the Cook Islands, since a unique flora and fauna exists. Among other things, this atoll of Palm thieves, a cancer is ( engl. Coconut crab ) populated. The only way to visit this remote region is, by its own ship or a chartered expedition of Rarotonga, the main island of the Cook Islands.