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Rennell Island is the largest island of Rennell and Bellona Province. It is almost totally surrounded by 120-150m cliffs and is comprised primarily of raised coral limestone, with the eastern end dominated by a brackish lake, Lake Te Nggano (also Lake Tegano), while the western end is relatively flat from the northern to southern coasts with rolling hills, (forested where not pasturalised), indicating its volcanic origins.

A PBY engine which had been hauled close to the shoreline. Image taken 1995

Lake Te Nggano was used as a flying boat base by both Japanese and American forces during the Pacific campaign of WW2. Japanese Nakajima A6M2-N Rufe floatplanes operated out of Rennell Island until US air and sea superiority made the base untenable. American PBY Catalinas used the lake as a base after 1943. The US forces scuttled eight of the warhorses at the end of hostilities rather than take them home. Members of the local community attempted to retrieve one of the radial engines to use as a generator using only man-power. First it was literally cut from the wing by diving with snorkels and using only hand-tools. It was then dragged across the coralline rock lake floor by hand-winch. Unfortunately, they were overcome in their task by the engines tremendous weight, and no doubt, grappling protuberances. They did manage to get it close to the shoreline before giving up, close enough that one of the propeller blades is exposed to the air. Very quickly however, the engine became unusable through corrosion, so further attempts to bring it ashore were abandoned.

Rennell is the largest raised coral atoll in the world. Lake Te Nggano is the largest freshwater lake in the Pacific Ocean, and it is now listed as a World Heritage Site. Rennell is home to several endemic species, including the Rennell Starling, the Bare-eyed White-eye, the Rennell Shrikebill and the Rennell Fantail.

Map of Rennell Island

Coconut Crab

The people of Rennell are geographically divided between the lower lake end and the higher end by two Christian religions. Around the Eastern end, Te Nggano, the people follow the South Seas Evangelical Church, with the Seventh-day Adventist Church occupying the Western end. Due to the tropical climate and thinly soiled coralline substrate, sheep and cattle do not thrive here. Villagers wishing to harvest seafood have the arduous task of climbing the surrounding 120-150m cliffs for the return journey to the coast. Once at the coast, they are bound to harvest only finned and scaled seafood, not shellfish, lobsters or other marine creatures. The serious deficiency in diet prompted the Solomons government to seed Lake Nggano with tilapia fish. These seem to have thrived in the brackish conditions and are now a staple part of the diet. While coconut crabs are crustaceans, and use the sea to spawn, they are biblically not seafood and so are able to be harvested according to local tradition.

Two villages (Hutuna and Niupani) alongside the lake have communications via the novel People First Network http://www.peoplefirst.net.sb initiative including a distance learning centre opened in June 2007 by an EU-funded Ministry of Education project http://www.peoplefirst.net.sb/DLCP/renbel.htm

Coordinates: 11°40′S, 160°10′E