Makira

History

The first recorded sighting by Europeans of Makira was by the Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Mendaña in June 1568. More precisely the sighting and also landing in San Cristóbal was due to a local voyage that set out from Guadalcanal in a small boat, in the accounts the brigantine Santiago, commanded by Alférez Hernando Enriquez and having Hernán Gallego as pilot. They charted it as San Cristóbal.

Education

The Stuyvenberg Rural Training Centre is a rural boarding centre of vocational education by the Society of Mary, located on the north coast of eastern Makira.

Environment

A 182,550 ha tract of largely forested land encompassing the eastern part of the island has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports populations of several threatened or endemic bird species. The site extends from the rocky cliffs of the coast to the island's central Bauro Highlands, including the catchments of the Warihito and Raro Rivers, reaching an altitude of 1,200 m, and consisting largely of tropical rainforest. The landscape is rugged, with steep-sided valleys, many streams and waterfalls, and small perched floodplains. Potential threats to the environment are logging, invasive species and human population growth.

Birds

Significant birds include Melanesian scrubfowl, yellow-legged pigeons, crested cuckoo-doves, red-knobbed and chestnut-bellied imperial pigeons, white-headed fruit doves, Makira boobooks, pied goshawks, Sanford's sea eagles, San Cristobal dwarf kingfishers, Meek's and duchess lorikeets, yellow-bibbed lories, green pygmy-parrots, Makira honeyeaters, sooty myzomelas, long-tailed trillers, dusky fantails, Makira flycatchers, white-collared and Makira monarchs, island leaf-warblers, shade bush warblers, grey-throated white-eyes, Makira starlings, Makira thrushes and mottled flowerpeckers. The Makira woodhen, or moorhen, has not been seen since 1953; the thick-billed ground dove has not been recorded since 1927 and is presumed extinct.

Other biota

Five species of restricted-range bats have been recorded, as well as a possibly new species of giant rat (Solomys). There are two species of endemic fig (Ficus).

Notable people

• Doreen Kuper - former Honorary Consul to New Zealand
• John Saunana - novelist, poet, and politician

Gallery

File:Kirakira Local Dwellings.JPG|Some of the local houses next to the beach at Kirakira File:Kirakira Beach at Sunset.JPG|A Kirakira beach at sunset

References

References

1. Sharp, Andrew ''The discovery of the Pacific Islands'' Oxford, 1960, pp.46,47.
2. Brand, Donald D. ''The Pacific Basin: A History of its Geographical Explorations'' The American Geographical Society, New York, 1967, p.133.
3. (March 2007). "SOLOMON ISLANDS. Study to Support the Development of a National Skills Training Plan". East Asia and Pacific Region. Human Development Sector Unit. The World Bank.
4. . ["East Makira"](https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/east-makira-iba-solomon-islands). *BirdLife International*.