Full view of Palau Malakal Island and Koror – World heritage site –
Want To Visit Paradise?
As we get 2021 underway, we are all hopeful that we can overcome our current worldwide medical catastrophe and open the world up again to travel and explore.
As the picture above shows, it’s an incredible string of South Seas islands that are spectacularly beautiful, serene and unspoiled…but are also under siege from the Coronavirus for a different reason!
These incredible islands are remote: on the plus side, they have avoided the devastation caused by Covid-19…however, they need visitors to bring cash and trade in order for their country to thrive – and with a worldwide pandemic still underway, #QuarantineLife means they are more isolated than ever!
Palau is a collection of hundreds of islands, located 500 miles east of the Philippines.
In total, they only have a population of about 18,000. When people dream of escaping to paradise, Palau is what comes to mind…look at this:
Paradise Under Siege!
The Washington Post is reporting that the worldwide pandemic has devastated the country – not from the actual virus, but from the loss of revenue as the world shut down.
As they report:
“Palau’s president-elect, Surangel Whipps Jr., set to take office next month, said that, in fact, the pandemic has wreaked havoc on his shores. “You could say our world has been turned upside down,” he told The Washington Post.
“Last year at this time, Palau was looking toward a growing economy and stability,” he said, adding that the tiny island nation had been planning to host the Our Ocean conference on international marine conservation.
That’s all changed.”
Look at that: even government buildings sit alongside paradise. The Post reports that Palau’s economy is set to shrink by 11.4 percent in 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund, a disaster for the small country.
Here can click here to see more of The Washington Post’s great reporting:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/12/18/coronavirus-pacific-islands-pandemic-economies/
In 2021, I am planning a weekly travel feature to look at some of the lesser-known places in our world…some beautiful like this:
And some less known…I have also shared books that take us to these incredible places, like Lucy Irvine’s dramatic memoir of life in the South Pacific:
This is an incredible book, and you can read more about it and Lucy’s fascinating life and trilogy of memoirs by clicking on my story here:
https://johnrieber.com/2014/05/05/faraway-lucy-irvines-castaway-sequel-more-amazing-island-escapes/
No matter how idyllic paradise looks, there always a downside, as the brilliant Travel Writer J. Maartan Troost discovered:
His trilogy os South Seas adventures are also “must reads” -see more here:
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Leave a comment and let me know the closest you’ve been to paradise!
Categories: Books / Media, Exotic Travel, nature, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir
johnrieber 
Wow, what a lovely looking place
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This place is stunning, a real paradise. Just one more sad story of the havoc that Miss Rona is inflicting on the world. It’s killing people and killing commerce.
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The same is happening here on some of the small islands as they solely rely on tourism it is really hard for them as they don’t receive much/any government help so sad 🙂
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That must be tough for those destinations throughout all of this – something we don’t often think about
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Palau is probably the single most stunning place on earth that I have been to.
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Gaia must be enjoying her holiday, for her it is great if nobody goes anywhere, but switching off 21st century human life has hard consequences.
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Many beautiful tourist destinations face ruin because of the lack of desire to travel. I feel the United Nations should step in with some aid, so that we still have these lovely places to visit when the pandemic is under control.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Yes Pete, in the same way governments give grants to the arts.
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The UN must be able to find some resources to help, Janet. But I doubt they will bother.
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