Unnamed Summit of Kao Island

Where is the Unnamed Summit of Kao Island?

The Unnamed Summit of Kao Island is part of the Kao volcanic island, Haapai group.

You will find it in: Tonga.

Summit: 19.670° S, 175.030° W

The story behind it

Kao is a young volcano that grew straight up from the sea floor until its cone broke the surface of the Pacific, and the very top of that cone is the highest place in the kingdom of Tonga. The island is small but extremely steep, a dark green triangle of old lava covered with dense forest, and its highest point has never been given a name of its own. No village stands on Kao, because there is no flat ground and no stream of fresh water, so people from the neighbouring islands come only to fish, gather coconuts or hunt. Next to it lies Tofua, a flatter volcano with a crater lake, which still steams and rumbles from time to time. Boats have to anchor offshore and land on rocks, and climbers push through wet undergrowth on slopes that feel almost like a staircase.

Find it on the globe

The Unnamed Summit of Kao Island is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.