Plizio Visual Lab

Ballalae

Plizio editorial teamUpdated: Jun 2026Data Sources

village

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Practical info — Ballalae

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🌤 Weather — 5 days

📍 Nearby

Sights nearby

💡 Tips

Access requires a chartered boat from Bougainville or Choiseul; secure your return transport in advance.
The island is littered with unexploded ordnance (UXO); never stray from paths or touch rusty relics.
You must pay a customary access fee to the Shortland Islands landowners prior to visiting.
Bring strong insect repellent, plenty of water, and sturdy protective footwear for the jungle.

🍽 Food

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Packed provisions

As there are no facilities, you must bring all your own food for the trip.

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Fresh coconuts

Your local guide might harvest one for you to drink during the tour.

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Fried plantains

Bring these as a durable snack from the mainland for your excursion.

🛍 Shopping · 🧘 Quiet spots

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Guide services

There are no shops, but hiring a knowledgeable local guide is an essential investment.

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The overgrown airfield

Stand on the historic Japanese airstrip reclaimed by nature for quiet reflection.

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Destroyed Mitsubishi bombers

Observe the silent, decaying aircraft wrecks hidden in the dense jungle.

Ballalae (also Balalae) is a small island in the Shortland Islands of the Solomon Islands that played a tragic and significant role in World War II. The island is best known today for its former airfield, constructed during the Japanese occupation by 517 British prisoners of war under extreme conditions. Geographically, Ballalae is flat and surrounded by coral reefs, making it a handy site for a Pacific airstrip. Following heavy Allied air raids in 1943, the island became a graveyard for numerous aircraft, whose wrecks can still be found today in the dense jungle and along the edges of the runway. The history of the British POWs, none of whom survived the occupation, makes Ballalae a place of solemn remembrance and historical inquiry. Today, the island is largely uninhabited but functions as a vital airstrip for the Shortland region, connecting the remote province to the capital. Vegetation has reclaimed much of the military infrastructure, lending the island a mysterious and melancholic atmosphere. Ballalae remains a key destination for historians and visitors interested in the aerial warfare history of the Pacific Theater.

Location: Solomon Islands
Nearby: Mono (52 km)

Best time to visit & climate

The most pleasant time to visit is Jan, Nov, Dec.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Avg °C	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28
Rain mm	264	296	282	270	383	371	356	349	278	288	237	230

Geography

Coordinates

-6.99000, 155.88000

Facts

Ballalae is located in the Shortland archipelago near the border with Papua New Guinea.
517 British POWs were brought here for forced labor in 1942.
The island hosts one of the largest concentrations of aircraft wrecks in the Pacific.
Among the wrecks are rare Japanese Mitsubishi G4M 'Betty' bombers.
The airstrip remains operational today and carries the IATA code BAS.
Mass graves of the British prisoners were discovered on the island in the 1960s.