- 3 weeks ago
Ruhi Cenet is in Nauru, the least visited country in the world. Located in the middle of the vast waters of the Pacific Ocean and appearing just as a tiny dot on the map, it’s the smallest independent republic. Nauru is the most inaccessible country. Hardly 200 people make their way to this country each year. This is the least visited country in the world, even the closest countries are thousands of kilometers away from here.
Until recently, the locals on this isolated island had so much wealth that they didn't even know what to do with it. Once rich in phosphate deposits in 1975, Nauru became the country with the highest GDP per capita in the World.
Today, however, in these destroyed lands where no fruits and vegetables can grow, processed and fatty foods have become the norm. Nauru is recognized by the World Obesity Federation as the world's most obese country, with around 60% of its citizens are obese. The World Health Organisation also reports that Nauru has the highest cigarette consumption rate in the world.
Subscribe ► https://goo.gl/MKi8tn
Project Assistant: Barış Kaan Baş
Editor: Ayşe Beliz Kurhan
Animation: Önder Darendeli
Video Editor: Selman Yaşar
Video Editing in English: Selman Yaşar
Project Manager: Esra Öner
Producer & Director: Ruhi Çenet
Until recently, the locals on this isolated island had so much wealth that they didn't even know what to do with it. Once rich in phosphate deposits in 1975, Nauru became the country with the highest GDP per capita in the World.
Today, however, in these destroyed lands where no fruits and vegetables can grow, processed and fatty foods have become the norm. Nauru is recognized by the World Obesity Federation as the world's most obese country, with around 60% of its citizens are obese. The World Health Organisation also reports that Nauru has the highest cigarette consumption rate in the world.
Subscribe ► https://goo.gl/MKi8tn
Project Assistant: Barış Kaan Baş
Editor: Ayşe Beliz Kurhan
Animation: Önder Darendeli
Video Editor: Selman Yaşar
Video Editing in English: Selman Yaşar
Project Manager: Esra Öner
Producer & Director: Ruhi Çenet
Category
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TravelTranscript
00:00Naurut, located in the middle of the vast waters of the Pacific Ocean and appearing just as a tiny dot on the map.
00:06It's the smallest independent republic.
00:08Hardly 200 people make their way to this country each year.
00:11I began this journey by arriving at Istanbul Airport 3 hours early.
00:15I first flew to San Francisco in 13 and a half hours.
00:18After a 7 hour layover, I took another long 13 hour flight to Nadi in the Fiji Islands and then waited again for a 7 hour layover.
00:25With nearly 75% of its seats unoccupied, the flight to Nauru from Nadi took 4 and a half hours and my 48 hour endless journey finally came to an end.
00:35This is the least visited country in the world.
00:37Even the closest countries are thousands of kilometers away from here.
00:40Once I set foot on the island, I have to wait for the next flight to leave which is scheduled almost a week later.
00:45Sea travel is not an option either.
00:47Nauru is surrounded by massive coral reefs preventing large ships from approaching the shore.
00:52Until recently, the locals on this isolated island had so much wealth that they didn't even know what to do with it.
00:58Once reaching phosphate deposits in 1975, Nauru became the country with the highest GDP per capita in the world.
01:04Today, however, in these destroyed lands where no vegetables and fruits can grow, processed and fatty foods have become the norm.
01:10Topping global charts, Nauru is recognized by the World's Obesity Federation as the world's most obese country with around 60% of its citizens are obese.
01:18The World Health Organization also reports that Nauru has the highest cigarette consumption rate in the world.
01:23The government's effort to keep foreign media away from the country is quite obvious.
01:28After going through a month-long procedure in which I presented countless documents, I could hardly get a tourist visa.
01:33While the regular application fee is 50 Australian dollars, an astronomical amount of 8,000 Australian dollars is demanded from journalists and media representatives as a deterrent.
01:43The police immediately took my drone I was carrying as I entered the country.
01:47You might have noticed something odd in the island's aerial perspective.
01:51They discouraged capturing Nauru from the sky.
01:53Filming here won't be easy because of a dirty truth that Nauru has been trying to hide which you'll come to learn in the following scenes.
01:59I am in the Yaran region right now.
02:01Since the runway area and the driveway area are right next to each other, it's usual for the cars to give way to airplanes here.
02:09Pedestrians are warned against jet blasts occurring during landing and takeoff.
02:13This is because the country is so small that the strip-shaped airport stretches across the entire southwest coast of the island.
02:20What you see here is airport.
02:22If I want to get inside, I could just jump over this fence and I could do it.
02:26The total area of the island is only 21 square kilometers or 8 square miles.
02:31It takes a maximum of 20 minutes to drive the whole country by car and every journey returns to its starting point as there is only wandering road.
02:39The police are on patrol all the time.
02:41As I don't want to draw attention, I've reached out the only tourism agency in the country and I will begin to explore the island with a guide.
02:48According to the agency, only one or two tourists come to the island in a month so the real numbers are way lower than those stated on the internet.
02:55What do you do in your free time on the island?
02:57What do you do in your free time on the island?
02:59What do you do in your free time on the island?
03:01Anything we want to do.
03:02Anything we want to do.
03:03Like what?
03:04Fishing, sleeping, eating.
03:05One, two, three.
03:06One, two, three.
03:07One, two, three.
03:08One, two, three.
03:09One, two, three.
03:10Woohoo!
03:11Get out of here, boy.
03:12Although it is not open visited by people, Nauru has been a favorite stop for migratory birds for centuries.
03:17While the island was thought to have limited resources, its soil contained a treasure called guano made of bird droppings and marine microorganisms.
03:37In 1899, German geologist Albert Ellis discovered that this plateau had high quality phosphate reserves.
03:43Once as valuable as gold, phosphate is a raw material boosting productivity in agriculture and during the first world war, Australia quickly annexed and turned Nauru into an overseas mining field.
03:54Except for Japan's brief occupation in 1942, the extracted phosphate was sold to the world for years at extremely low prices.
04:01Some old people say that this cell here, Japanese used to pile people in and then close it out, put some gasoline from the rooftop and then burn them in there.
04:10Those who don't want to work for them.
04:12This railroad, which time is about to erase, was constructed in 1907 to transport phosphate mines from the land's interior to the harbor on the western coast.
04:21By the time Nauru gained independence in 1968, 35 million metric tons of phosphate had left from its shores.
04:27It's hard to believe, but in the past century, the fruits and vegetables that found their way onto the tables of many people around the world were grown with the phosphate extracted from the soil of this tiny island.
04:36After gaining independence, Nauru obtained significant wealth and many numerous whose lands would be used for phosphate mining acquitted their job and began counting down the days to become millionaires.
04:46Thousands of workers from China and other Pacific islands were brought to work in the dirty hot and tough conditions of the phosphate mines.
04:53Nauru had a per capita income of around $176,000 by the year 1975, whereas in the world's leading economy, the United States had around $44,000, taking into account today's inflation rate.
05:04Nauru managed to establish a welfare state where there were no taxes.
05:08Education, transportation, health care services and even housing were all provided free of charge.
05:13I've seen my grandma come out of the bank with the pillowcase.
05:18They put all their money inside and just walk out with the money, spend it all up.
05:24I heard that there was a police officer who bought a Lamborghini, but he realized that he did not fit into the car and dumped it.
05:32Is it true?
05:33Yes, that's true.
05:34Even some of the cars are bought for just decorations.
05:38As Nauru suddenly became wealthy, a frenzy of consumption overtook them and this small island was filled with the latest car models.
05:44Along the roadside, we came across a collection of abandoned luxury cars from the past, Cadillacs, Jeeps, Land Rovers.
05:50These are just a few of the vehicles that the island residents once used for speed and amusement on this road.
05:55It is almost like a car graveyard here.
05:57The layer of rust on them indicates how distant the days of glory are.
06:01Ever since I got here, the natives have been warning me to watch out for the packs of stray people roaming around the road.
06:06Once a popular breed, some islanders eagerly adapted these dogs and left them on the streets.
06:11Along with the dogs, more animals that were not originally present in Nauru were also brought in over time.
06:17Cat, chickens and pigs are animals that the islanders have become familiar with relatively recently.
06:22When miners uprooted the trees and excavated fertile soil, all living organisms were harmed.
06:27It is neither suitable for agriculture nor construction, and Nauruans are suffering dire consequences of this problem.
06:33Nauru's terrain is covered with pits some as deep as 15 meters or 49 feet,
06:38and limestone peaks extending from the center of the island to the coastal areas.
06:42No agricultural products can thrive in this barren land with its high level of acidity.
06:46Nauruans depend on highly processed canned food from overseas mostly imported from Australia to sustain themselves.
06:53The average life expectancy of the people of Nauru is 64 years.
06:56A poor quality diet has made Nauru hold the title of the world's most obese nation for years.
07:02This island, which was not yet discovered by the Western world 150 years ago, was self-sufficient, but now they outsource everything.
07:09Here, 97% of men and 94% of women are overweight or obese.
07:13The obesity issue in Nauru is like an epidemic. It's everywhere.
07:17On the streets, in the restaurants, at the markets, I see people struggling with extra weight.
07:21Within a population where 45% suffer from diabetes, amputations are common.
07:26There are awareness raising banners all around the country.
07:28The store shelves are empty as you can see. Products are imported here every 6 weeks.
07:33It's a luxury to have fresh fruits and vegetables on the island.
07:36A head of cauliflower is priced at 18 Australian dollars and a watermelon costs 61 Australian dollars.
07:43Many residents enjoy consuming meat products that Western countries refuse to sell to their own people
07:48and instead market them as turkey tails to Nauruans.
07:51This part of the animal, which is 75% pure fat, is far from being nutritious.
07:56Lack of living space is another drawback of phosphate mining.
08:00The destruction has left 80% of Nauru uninhabitable, squeezing its estimated 14,000 residents
08:06into a coastal area of just 4 square kilometers or 1,5 square miles.
08:10This is Boadalagun, the only untouched area on the island, that contains the original flora.
08:15It opens a door to the paths. Nauru was once filled with this plant cover, but now it's all vanished.
08:20Here, it's still possible to see banana trees, pandanus trees and pineapple plants.
08:24Rising like sculptures, the coal rock formations on Nauru's coastline reach up to 5 meters or 6 meters.
08:29above the sea. The ocean floor is covered by dead-collar rocks that extend about 200 meters from the shore,
08:35making it impossible for large ships to dock. Many of these are underwater and become visible only when the sea recedes.
08:41This makes it possible for the people to hold up to hundreds of meters in water and hunt fish.
08:46With the destruction of trees, average temperatures have increased to around 30 degrees Celsius or 86 degrees Fahrenheit all year round.
08:52On the island, influenced by the monsoon winds, seasonally, rain and time flow as one.
08:57However, Nauru lacks any rivers or streams. Islanders have limited access to fresh water.
09:02The country produces 2 million liters of drinking water daily by treating ocean water using reverse osmosis at these desalination plants.
09:10There is an underground lake named Mokoawel. Finding the entrance to this cave without the help of a local is challenging as its entrance is quite narrow.
09:18During times of war, the people of Nauru used this place both as a shelter and to access drinking water.
09:23It's filled with cans and pieces of glass. This underground lake is no longer a reliable supply of drinking water.
09:30What was the religion before Christianity?
09:32It's the Gura. It's the god here. There's the altar on the top side.
09:36If they give it food, it will come into life and then it will bring them what they were asking for.
09:41Is there anyone who still believes in Gura?
09:43Some. They believe that this water here and they've witnessed it.
09:47If you come and take a dig, it will heal your skin or maybe some other diseases.
09:52There is no official capital city in the country. However, Yarren district contains all of the institutions such as the parliament house, embassies,
09:58the country's only police station, fire department and the airport.
10:01There are only 11 schools here, including 3 high schools and a state university.
10:06Almost everyone on the island is fluent in English. The locals speak Naurun as their first language.
10:11For example, the name Nauru itself originates from Naurun term Anoero, which means I go to the beach.
10:17How do you say hello?
10:19Waiting.
10:20How about how are you?
10:24Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.
10:26I came to the parliament building where Nauru is governed.
10:29Contrary to the expected formal setting, it reflects the relaxed atmosphere of the island.
10:33There was no security at the entrance and I have been allowed to take photos and videos with my phone.
10:38With only 19 seats, Nauru's parliament is one of the smallest in the world.
10:41If those here knew about the scenes I will show you later in the video, they would probably think twice about letting me be here.
10:47By the 1970s, the Nauru government realized that their phosphate reserves ending and they mirrored oil rich Middle Eastern nations by investing in overseas properties.
10:56Including Nauru House in Melbourne, Nauru Tower in Hawaii, Pacific Star Hotel in Guam, Pacific House in Washington, the Grand Pacific Hotel in Fiji and many more.
11:04However, corruption and mismanagement put the government into a deficit of millions of dollars per year throughout the 1990s and the savings from the phosphate quickly went up in smoke.
11:13In an effort to sustain its welfare, the government aimed to turn the country into a tax haven and got involved in money laundering scandals with drug cartels, the Russian Mafia and organizations like Al Qaeda.
11:23Nauru issued license to over 400 foreign banks under a system that didn't require branching and allowed optional record keeping.
11:31During that period, the Russian Mafia alone laundered an estimate of $70 billion through the banks in Nauru.
11:36As a result of international pressures, the country put an end to illegal offshore banking activities and has been compelled to use a cash-based economy since 2004.
11:45The Australian dollar is the official currency of Nauru. A few and only ATMs in the country don't have money either.
11:51I brought some cash with me because credit cards are also not accepted here.
11:55Following efforts to prevent money laundering, only one bank, which is Australian, currently operates in the country.
12:00As the year 2000 approached, phosphate reserves had run dry and phosphate export fell to 1% compared to its peak period.
12:07The country's central bank collapsed and its properties abroad were sold off one by one.
12:12We see the excavation machines in action as you know through the topside, the country still continues to extract phosphate on a small scale.
12:19If they discover another phosphate mine here, will you support mining it?
12:24I'll just say leave the nature alone because from Nauru now digging to the ground we're gonna sink.
12:3052% of the population lives at or below the poverty line and tries to survive on aid from the church.
12:36In low-income areas, stress triggers high levels of tobacco consumption.
12:40Roughly one out of every two individuals above the age of 15 consumed cigarettes on the island.
12:45There are a total of five beaches on the island and they have been partially littered with rubber tires and trash.
12:54Nauru agreed to accept unwanted refugees from Australia in exchange for financial support in 2001.
12:59Around 1000 refugees, mostly of Afghan, Iraqi and Iranian descent were transported to Nauru and detained for an indefinite period.
13:07On the topside, three refugee camps were established.
13:10People were forced to stay in plastic tents for years under the scorching sun without regular access to clean water.
13:16Many tried to escape from inhuman miserable conditions and uncertain future by ending their lives.
13:22The ones who suffered the most from this situation were the children who made up the majority of the camps.
13:27Australia was spending an average of 550 million dollars each year to maintain these camps.
13:32In other words, the Nauru government made a profit of 500,000 dollars for each refugee held captive on the island.
13:39As I tried to get to these hidden areas, suddenly barricades appeared in my way.
13:43They had blocked all the roads leading to the camps located in the three different spots in the topside.
13:48I found a way to shoot from the outside.
13:50For around two decades, these camps became the scene of numerous individuals losing their lives due to medical negligence, accidents and taking one's own life.
13:59Recent reports indicate that these places are now completely empty.
14:02However, the locals have no specific knowledge about this matter.
14:05Currently, Nauru is counting down the days to engage in deep sea mining in collaboration with the Canada-based Metals Company.
14:12Their plan is to extract polymetallic stones that only grew a few millimeters per million years.
14:17These stones containing metals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese found in batteries will be the energy source of the near future.
14:24Scientists warned that these mining operations putting marine life at risk could potentially reduce the ocean's capacity to absorb carbon and accelerate climate change.
14:32The illusion of wealth that suddenly Nauru got itself into in the late 1960s caused a generation to not understand the importance of artwork and education.
14:41The government did not make future plans and exhausted all the nation's resources.
14:46It seems almost impossible to build a better future here without the necessary motivation, skills and knowledge.
14:52This small island with wounds that can never be healed basically stands before us as a summary of what is going on in the world and as a lesson that humanity should always remember.
15:01Thank you for watching this documentary. I hope it added a value to your worldview perspective.
15:06Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel. See you in the next one.
15:09Ruhi Chenet was here.
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