The Largest Urban Settlement In The Solomon Islands, Honiara,...

Honiara, Solomon Islands

The largest urban settlement in the Solomon Islands, Honiara, is on a narrow coastal strip of flat land with a single highway running through it. The residential areas are in the valleys and on the 200 to 300 meters high ridges, behind the commercial and industrial sections, which can provide several interesting short loop runs of 4 to 5 kilometres each. For the more adventurous the coastal strip road West through villages and coconut plantations eventually arrives at Tambea Resort 25 kilometres from the city. To the East the 40 kilometres of road through oil palm plantations jungle and scattered villages takes you to Vulelual Island resort. Solomon islanders are a very friendly people who would welcome an overnight stay in their village for a small contribution if a runner wished to do a run in stages. The Mantaniko river which joins the sea at Chinatown has a road up its valley laeding to a fairly steep walking/running track which takes you to the Scenic Mataniko Falls. This is about a 1 to 2 hour run and is popular with local residents many of whom use vehicle inner tubes (Gummis) to float back down to Chinatown. By arrangement there is a similar type of 2 to 3 hour run from Tenaru up the Tenaru River with the need to ford the river for to five times until the spectacular Tenaru falls are reached. These are a curtain type waterfalls some 100 meters high with a great swimming/diving pool at their base. There is a local branch of the Hash House Harriers which runs each Monday at 5 pm. Visitors are welcome to join them on their runs. Contact Tom Shoen at the National bank of the Solomon Islands for details of the run.