Backpacking in Nauru: Top 12 Sights In The Interior, Thon Outback

“He’s the one who likes to shoot his guns” – Kurt Cobain.
“With their tanks and their bombs and their guns. They are fighting” – Dolores O’Riordan.
“Slip inside the eye of your mind” – Noel Gallagher.

Nauru has beautiful coastlines, staggering views, classic beaches and wild ocean waves. It’s a Pacific Islands country full of contradictions and factual discrepancies. I already exposed some myths on Nauru.

However we were dedicating a long time to this small country island. 3 visits over a 12 day period and a total of 5 full days and 5 full nights here. This meant we had loads and loads of time and could also explore Nauru’s interior as well as the coastal villages.

Most of the time we toured the ocean kissing parts. You can walk the entire perimeter of the country and we did that, ensuring we had backpacked all 19 villages including Yaren the capital city, and all 14 provinces. It’s pretty easy to accomplish at a canter.

Only one province in Nauru has no coastline. Buada. Some, but not all of these sights are in Buada.

As well as the capital city Yaren, we also toured Ronave, Ewa, Aiwo, Meneng, Boe, Anetan and Anibare. However here are the main backpacking sights in Nauru’s interior. These can be walked but it would take at least a day. Our hotel, Hotel Menen ran a bus tour which handily incorporates all of these stops on one day. That’s the way I recommend doing it.

1.The Boe Cave (the wet cave)
I included the Boe Cave in my top backpacking sights in Boe article, but it’s inland and hard to find so needs to be on this list too.

You can swim in this cave.

2.Phosphate Factory
Reminders of Nauru’s glory days are clear and sad for all to see. Though it’s officially out of bounds, you can get right up to the factory.

Some even venture inside. I chose not to.

3.Japanese Prison
War reminders are here when we discover the remains of the old Japanese prison.

While the Japanese conquered the island during World War 2, it was the USA, Australia and New Zealand who came and ousted them.

The prison is rough, rusty and derelict. You can wander around.

4.Nauru’s Peak (Topside – the highest mountain)
One of the highlights from my time backpacking in Nauru was hiking to the country’s peak. This part of the country is in Buaba Province and the higher part is usually referred to as Topside.

I haven’t even been to the highest point in Northern Ireland (Slieve Donard). The hike is very easy and not strenuous.

However, it was a hot day and I sweated a lot. Sun cream and mosquito repellent was needed.

Once we arrived at the peak, there was a Japanese gun…

5.Command Ridge Gun
The highest point of Nauru is the Command Ridge Gun.

We were also told about the remains of an old aeroplane somewhere here. We spent half an hour in the deeper rocks looking for it, to no avail.

6.The Central Cave (the dry cave)
The second series of caves to visit here in Nauru is in the deeper interior.

This cave is reached down a narrow path near the unused prison. There is no water in this cave.

7.Buada Lagoon
Who’d have thunk that an island country this small would have such diversity of natural landscape. Caves, mountains, forest, ocean and a gorgeous lake. There is only one lagoon, it is usuallu known as Buada Lagoon after the province it’s in but others call it The Lagoon, Nauru Lagoon and Arenibek Lagoon.

It’s in the Buada province so I’ll prefer to refer to it as Buada Lagoon.

8.Buada Church
Nauru is a dominantly Catholic country and there is one main church in the interior so we backpacked it – it’s in Buada.

9.Solar Electric Power Station
The United Arab Emirates helped fund the solar electricity system in Nauru. We were able to get inside and have a walk around.

10.Refugee Camps
We see many barbed wire zones and security gates. These are generally no go areas for tourists and we can’t enter. We also shouldn’t take photos here so from a distance only.

11.Unused Prison
As well as the Japanese Prison, there is another unused prison. We couldn’t go inside but it’s here for all to see. It looks like the sort of place you could play one of those reality TV shows like Prison Break.

12.Old Railway Line
I was a bit shocked to learn that Nauru once had an old railway line. It was used in the phosphate glory era. Parts of the track remain at various points. Keep an eagle eye on you as you drive by the roadside.

Once you’ve seen all of those things, you’ve virtually conquered all of inland Nauru. The outback tour is complete. Here are s few more photos from Nauru’s outback / interior.

Here are some videos from my time backpacking in Interior Nauru: