Christmas Island: the red crab migration

An Australian territory isolated in the Indian Ocean, Christmas Island hosts one of the planet's most extraordinary natural spectacles: the annual migration of tens of millions of red crabs.

A rental car is almost indispensable to move around the island.

Among the ferns and trees of the rainforest, the trails in The Dales area cross the green heart of the island, largely protected as a national park.

Continuing towards the coast, one reaches The Grotto, a limestone cavity that encloses a natural pool of clear water connected to the sea.

Nearby, the coastal blowholes shoot violent sprays of water into the air with every wave breaking against the rocky formations, with a roar audible at a distance.

Between October and December, if the first monsoon rains have already fallen, tens of millions of red crabs leave the forest to reach the sea, in one of the largest animal migrations on the planet.

During the peak of migration, some island roads are closed or fitted with special underpasses, all to avoid interrupting the journey of millions of crabs headed toward the ocean.

The exact date of migration depends on rainfall, not the calendar: some years it begins weeks ahead or behind previous seasons.