A week before the arrival of the first group of anglers in Nonouti, TAK official visited Nonouti to prepare the island from the 2nd to the 9th of September.
Part of the fishing package prepared by the Island Council and the TAK is the cultural aspect of Nonouti. Such cultural aspects are the cultural and historical heritage of Nonouti Island which mostly tells a story of the island of Nonouti and the people itself
There are 6 cultural/historical sites including monuments stationed in two villages identified by the tour guide from Nonouti. These are: Te Aake Maneaba, Marenaubon, the shrine of Nei Tewenei, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic and the monuments of the first Catholic missionaries arrived in Kiribati, Nonouti. These are all stationed at Umwantewenei and Taribo tribe in the village of Taboiaki. Ana Ngea te Unimwaane is the last shrine and offering site located at Tekib’aka tribe in Temoti village, the last village in the Southern Nonouti. The following sites were identified and chosen as the major cultural and historical sites to be visited because of their important and rich stories about the Kiribati customs and beliefs, the first arrival of Christianity in Kiribati and the married of both the traditional and western knowledge that built up the largest community house/maneaba in Kiribati.
Cherishing the cultural and historical stories of Nonouti - International fly fishing and anglers cultural experiences in Nonouti Island
As part of the biggest preparation for the island, the TAK work closely with the local tour guide and the communities for a beautification and maintenance task. TAK spent a week for this preparation of the sites cleaning and landscaping. Part of the preparation, TAK and the local tour guide managed to create simple signage of each cultural sites & monuments. This will ensure that while the tour guide is taking the visitors around to these sites & monuments telling each story, the visitors can also relate to the signage at the same time. This will also be easy for the anglers to note down the names of cultural sites & monuments visited. Additionally, it will be helpful to the anglers when it comes to sharing such great cultural tour experiences via travel blogs or social media outlets. There would not be issues with naming such sites and monuments.
TAK also promoted to the local communities the importance of these sites and how small- scale businesses can be developed to support their livelihood at the same time. This will create a sense of ownership to these sites and will support its maintenance in the long term. “This is a great idea, we can make garlands for the anglers and sell it to them together with the fresh coconut juice (moimoto)” said Angineti Itinata from the Catholic Church women group from Te Riki-n-Imakurata, Taboiaki.
This activity is supported by the LDCF-1 Project, funded by the Global Environment Facility and implemented under the Environment and Conservation Division with the support of the United Nations Development Programme.
