Tonga

Giant fruit bats (flying foxes)

Hiking through crops of 'Eua (coconut, taro, papaya, casava, kava)

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Wild horses of 'Eua

Tonga was not really what we expected, although we didn't know what to expect. It's the only pacific island that was never colonized, and the monarchy still plays a major role in politics. The people are extremely friendly, and the whole country (169 islands) is very rural and only has a population of about 100,000. There are pigs and chickens running around all over the place, even in the main city (Nuku'alofa). Everyone shares everything- so people don't buy things their neighbours already own, they just borrow them (including animals for eating). The main and biggest island (Tongatapu) is only about 20 km across. At this time of the year, humpback whales are breeding all around the Tongan islands (then they spend their summers in the Antarctica) and we could see them right from the beach at both the places we stayed at. We also went whale watching with a local fisherman. We went to the island of 'Eua (which is a 2 hour ferry ride from Tongatapu) as well as Tongatapu and spent 4 days at each place. 'Eua is mostly jungle with a few plantations and a handful of villages all on the same side of the island. In Tongatapu, the snorkelling was excellent right in front of the place we were staying! The whole island is surrounded by a coral reef (as most of Tonga's islands are).