Wallis & Futuna
Wallis & Futuna form a French Overseas Territory, located in the south Pacific between
New Caledonia and the islands of French Polynesia. Nearest neighbours
in the region are the isalnds groups of Samoa (350 km to the east) and Fiji
(600 km to the south). There are two groups of islands: the Wallis Islands (Uvea and its minor islets)
and the Îles de Horne (consisting of Futuna and Alofi). The two groups
lie 230 km apart.
In the north east of the group are the Wallis Islands. The main member of the group is the large island of Uvea (96 km²) which is surrounded by an extensive barrier reef system that lies 3-4 km offshore. Within the 65 km² shallow lagoon are 19 minor islands — found on the eastern and southern sides of the lagoon. The whole formation covers around 160 km². Uvea is low-lying with its highest point of Mt. Lulu reaching 150 m.
230 km to the southwest of Uvea lie the islands of the Futuna Group (Îles de Horne), consisting of
the two islands of Futuna and Alofi. Futuna, the largest of the two at 62 km², is mountainous and has
a minor apron reef surrounding much of the island. Alofi, 1.8 km southeast of Futuna, is also mountainous
and covers an area of 32 km².
The climate of the territory is tropical, with an average annual rainfall of over 3,000 mm on Uvea and 2,500 mm on Futuna. Duriing the cyclone season (November to March) the islands can experience torrential rainfall. During the dry season, the islands are cooled by the Southeast Trades. Vegetation on the islands include pockets of lowland rain forest, montane rain forest (above 400 m on Futuna), and areas of scrub and grassland.
The waters around Wallis & Futuna contain a large number of submarine bank formations — part of the extensive Samoan hot-spot trail. Of these, the closest is the small Lalla Rookh bank, located to the northeast of Uvea.
