WHEN YOU think Unesco World Heritage site, what do you see? The lost cities of ancient empires? Glorious natural phenomena? Nuclear test sites, anyone?
If the hard-pressed folk of Bikini Atoll have their way, they will soon be getting the tourist world’s most prestigious imprimatur for just that.
World Heritage status is only given where a place demonstrates itself to be important not just to the country in which it is found, but to the world. It is therefore judged worthy not only of preserving but of visiting.
Unfortunately, there’s a slight hindrance to the latter.
The atoll, part of the Marshall Islands of Micronesia, in the north Pacific, was home to the mother of all US nuclear test explosions between 1946 and 1958.
The islanders, who are still waiting to resettle, are a little short on ways to make a living now, given that their tropical-paradise homes are so contaminated they can’t grow food.
In recent years locals have had some success enticing divers to a by-product of the testing: the world’s largest collection of military wrecks, including battleships and aircraft carriers used for target practice. Apparently it’s safe to breathe and swim there.
Unfortunately, just as divers began to arrive, difficulties with the local airline put paid to flights in or out. Today, if you want to go, you have to charter a yacht.
www.bikiniatoll.com
