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New Caledonia is a French overseas dependent territory that consists of several southwest Pacific island groups lying in the Melanesia region of Oceania. Home to approximately 250,000 people, these islands offer visitors a combination of classic French and island culture that can't be found anywhere else in the world.
New Caledonia, which has a total land area of over 18,500 square kilometers, consists of Grande Terre, the main island, the Loyalty Island archipelago and a number of smaller atolls and islands only some of which are inhabited. French is the language of choice spoken by almost all of the islands' inhabitants, and travelers wishing to island-hop should have at least a working knowledge of this language to make themselves understood. New Caledonian cuisine is a delightful blend of the French and the exotic and features tasty dishes like the meat and starch combination known as bounga, which includes meat as commonplace as chicken or as unusual as fruitbat.
Grande Terre is unusually mountainous for a Pacific island and its highest peak, Mont Panié, forms part of its Chaîne Centrale mountain range and stretches 1,628m up into the air. New Caledonia experiences a tropical climate, with summer rains appearing every year from December through March. Situated on the Tropic of Capricorn, the area is also prone to cyclones but its winters are cool and dry.
As the New Caledonian islands comprise the highest points of the submerged continent of Zealandia - which was separated from all other continental masses for millions of years before it sank - their wildlife, plantlife and marine-life include many endemic and unique species that aren't found anywhere else in the world. Visitors can enjoy seeing the flightless kagu bird, the Amborella trichopoda shrub, which is thought to be an ancestor to all modern flowering plants, and the Nautilus cephalopod, which is also New Caledonia's official emblem. New Caledonia also boasts the New Caledonia Barrier Reef, which is the second largest coral reef in the world and which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.
The New Caledonian capital of Noumea is located on Grande Terre Island and is one of the most developed and westernized cities in the Pacific. Although tourism is one of New Caledonia's largest industries, Noumea is still relatively undiscovered, and visitors will enjoy exploring its Tjibaou Cultural Centre, Maritime History Museum and Aquarium des Lagons without the usual overwhelming press of tourists. The L'Île-des-Pins, or Isle of Pines, is another of New Caledonia's tourist hot spots and was recently the setting for the French version of the "Survivor" television program. Also known as "the closest island to paradise", the L'Île-des-Pins offers visitors intense blue seas and age-old pine groves. New Caledonia's Loyalty Islands include Lifou Island, Tiga Island and Ouvéa Island, which is known for its blue coconut crabs and its brilliant green endemic Uvea parakeets.
New Caledonia combines the European and the tropic to give vacationers a taste of both worlds while simultaneously treating them to unparalleled natural delights. |
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