The joy of jellyfish in Palau

A FEW years ago, a delegation from the Republic of Palau visited Australia on important government business. From their Sydney hotel windows, the delegates could see the nightly migration across the city of enormous bat colonies.

Palau Escape jellyfish

A FEW years ago, a delegation from the Republic of Palau visited Australia on important government business. From their Sydney hotel windows, the delegates could see the nightly migration across the city of enormous bat colonies.

"We were wondering why nobody was shooting them," a delegate recalls. "They looked great."

Bat, you see, is a delicacy on Palau, where locals are astonished to hear that Australians eat kangaroo meat.

More on that issue of culinary cultural difference later, including the story of at least one Australian who has now eaten bat. First, the basics.

Palau is a collection of 200 islands scattered like fragments of jade across the Pacific Ocean. Their beauty is evident from the sky and isn't diminished by closer proximity. Indeed, hidden within Palau's green jewellery are sites of such rare wonder as not to be seen anywhere else on earth.

Australians may struggle with the concept of bats as food but we have an even greater aversion to jellyfish. We are conditioned from birth to fear the fierce sting of the box jellyfish, for example, which is reasonable enough, considering that by some measures it is the world's most toxic creature.

So, in Australia, we will clear entire beaches if a swarm of jellyfish should be spotted. Nets are placed off beaches in Australia's north to block the pretty but potentially deadly sea beasts from invading swimming areas.

In Palau, however, people swarm towards jellyfish. Your journey to Palau's stunning, unstinging Jellyfish Lake begins with a 50-minute boat ride from Palau's main hub of Koror, along shaded-glass waters and through a maze of densely forested micro-islands. This transfixing expedition alone might be worth the cost of a Palaun visit, but the most thrilling sights are yet to be revealed.

Even before then, there is a 20-minute hike through crop-thick tropical trees and vines, at the end of which an inland lake appears. This body of water was cut off from the rest of the ocean thousands of years ago by seismic activity. Despite being brainless, some jellyfish made a clever decision by getting stuck here, where they have zero natural predators.

No predators means no need for stings, which by now have almost completely vanished from the lake's jellyfish. There is only enough charge left to deliver a tiny lip-numbing sensation to humans, so divers and snorkellers take great delight in cavorting among these harmless, transparent globes.

As it happens, I don't swim, let alone snorkel or dive. This attitude cut no ice with tour guides, who immediately directed me to a kayak. One way or another, I would be out there on that lake.

So plentiful are the jellyfish that you'll invariably brush against them by dangling your hand over a kayak's edge. It's a strange feeling, having been convinced of the jellyfish's threat. Imagine if there were such a thing as fire you could carry in your pocket, or an Australian film you really wanted to see.

That's how weird it is. Other oceanic oddities abound. One between-islands area is known as the Milky Way for the white limestone clay in that region of the ocean floor. It's so finely grained that it feels more like a gel. Your guides will pause here awhile so everyone can get properly coated. It's quite something to see full-on mud people when you're not even on land.

You'll have to be land-bound eventually, though, despite all of the aquatic attractions. Palau is as expensive to visit as you want it to be, offering hotel rooms from about $60 a night up to the impressive 5-star Palau Royal Resort, surrounded by a shallow man-made pool containing stingrays, tropical fish and a solitary turtle.

It used to also contain sea cucumbers, according to poolside gossip, but locals stole and ate them. That's the price you pay for decorating your hotel with food.

Lord only knows how much less time those sea cucumbers would've lasted if they tasted anything like delicious Red Rooster, said to be Palau's only micro-brewed beer. You can find it at various points around the dozen or so islands of Palau that are occupied, along with most every other form of drinky nourishment. These islands don't lack for bars.

It might pay to get an early night before taking part in any of the adventures offered by Fish 'n Fins, a diving-snorkelling-eating-driving-everything place established in 1972. Hosts Tova and Navot can cater to any exploratory itch that needs to be scratched. You want to frolic among fish? Not a problem. Dive deep to discover the wreckage of World War II ships and aircraft? They know where to take you. Meet a shark? It can be arranged.

This one-stop marine shop can also sort out 5-star ocean journeys on board elaborately equipped multi-tonne tour vessels. If you're ever hoping to scope out the Pacific's islands by sea, this should be your first stop.They also run what are described as "eco tours" of Palau's intense forest regions, in little self-driven four-wheel-drive buggies. Now, the prefix "eco" puts you in mind of hippie-style wonderment at nature, but it's slightly more involved. Or it can be, depending on your enthusiasm.

Four of us were in the buggy as we set out from Fish 'n Fins headquarters: one guide and three Australian eco-tourists. Our expectations weren't especially high until the guide ran through some safety protocols.

"If you think the buggy is going to flip over," he said, "grab hold of the roll bar here."

Flip over, you say?

It may have been a mistake to let me drive. We set out on a narrow forest trail that became narrower and less trail-like as it went on. Large, muddy ponds loomed. Very subtly, the guide let me know that an increase in speed was permitted. "Our friends in the back seem very dry and clean," he said.

Shortly they weren't. This wasn't just a hooning run, however. At one stage the guide yelled for me to stop, which I at first thought was because we were about to crash or maybe run over a rare land crab. But it was because he'd spotted a tiny, just-about-to-flower tropical plant a metre or so from the trail edge.

Another roadside attraction was more easily detected. The war history of Palau is never far away, even when you're in a mud buggy, as we learned when we happened upon the rusted but intact hulk of a World War II Japanese tank. Such wartime remnants are so plentiful, and the surrounding plant life so fast-growing, that new discoveries still happen from time to time, more than 66 years after the conflict ended.

To chase down any recent findings or anything else you seek, just talk to, well, anybody you meet. Locals have a wry sense of humour that sits well with Australian sensibilities. The main industry here may be tourism but there is never any hard sell. If you're up for a chat, however, you'll find yourself in good company.

An extremely rare murder occurred in Palau during my visit. I was initially reluctant to raise the subject during a meeting with government officials but I needn't have worried. Everybody had an opinion and was eager for further theories.

By contrast, eager isn't the word non-locals would apply to a hot dish of fresh bat. My own serving arrived boiled in a vegetable soup, although it can also be served fried, grilled or, for all I know, as a Christmas pudding with coins in its mouth.

We're talking about a whole bat here, which following boiling isn't much different in appearance to a regular sky bat. Locating the prime meat section involves digging your fingers into the chest area and peeling your bat apart. Then you eat.

How does it taste? Refreshingly, not like chicken. Also distressingly not like chicken. Bat is its very own thing. The good part is, if you happen to enjoy the flavour, it's going to hang around for a long, long time. Oh, yes.

-- The writer was a guest of United Airlines, Palau Royal Resort and the Palasia Hotel.

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PALAU

-- Getting there

United Airlines flies twice weekly to Guam from Cairns, with connections from Sydney, and has daily connections to Palau.

See unitedairlines.com.au

-- Staying there

Palau Royal Resort, see www.palau-royal-resort.com

Palasia Hotel, see www.palasia-hotel.com

-- Doing there

Fish 'n Fins, see fishnfins.com

IMPAC Tours, see palau-impac.com/english/index.html

Sam's Tours, see samstours.com

-- More: See visit-palau.com