The sun rises on the coastline of Hienghène, on Grande Terre’s north-east coast. This island is the largest of the 36 islands, islets and cays that comprise the French territory of New Caledonia in the south-west of the Pacific Ocean.

Small uninhabited islets ripe for exploring dot the Pacific Ocean at the outskirts of Grand Terre. Only 20 minutes from Hienghène by boat, Îlot Hienga is one such Pacific playground. Visitors can explore its botanical abundance and snorkel its fringing reef, which sits within one of the territory’s six World Heritage marine sites.

Blue River Provincial Park, Nouméa, is home to more than 20 lizard species, including this knob-tailed giant gecko. The pride of the park, however, is the New Caledonian giant gecko, the world’s largest tree-living gecko.

Built by the French as a gesture of goodwill in the 1990s, and named after an assassinated Kanak revolutionary, Jean-Marie Tjibaou cultural centre showcases Kanak culture and history.

At 22,400ha, Blue River Provincial Park is New Caledonia’s largest managed national park. It is home to many endangered species, including the largest wild population of cagous. This unusual, flightless and endangered bird is considered the national emblem of New Caledonia.

Clutching tightly to its catch, an osprey soars high above Îlot Hienga, off the coast of Hienghène, on the return journey to its nest.

New Caledonia harbours the world’s largest lagoon (40,000sq.km) and, after the Great Barrier Reef, the longest barrier reef system (about 1600km compared to the GBR’s 2300km). The reef’s multiple shelves are home to 450 species of coral and almost 1700 species of fish.

Albert Tein is a member of the Bas-Coulna tribe; he has been growing his incredible locks for 38 years. Many Kanak customs are anchored around the protection of tribal land, and the villagers of Bas-Coulna, in northern Grande Terre, have a special connection to Mt Panie, New Caledonia’s highest mountain.

The jagged black limestone of the Lindéralique Rocks dominates the coastline near to Hienghène, in north-east Grande Terre.

The vitality of New Caledonia’s marine life secured World Heritage listing for six sites in 2008. Emmanuel Coutures, head of conservation for two of Province Sud’s World Heritage marine sites, works closely with local tribes to determine how best to protect the sites, and says much has been achieved since the listing.

The Kanak are the indigenous Melanesian people of New Caledonia. More than 300 tribes are organised in a tier system that hinges on oral storytelling: a chief sits at the helm of a group of families, and a number of these groups form larger collectives ruled by a more powerful chief. Meetings with the chief are often held in a traditional hut made of natural materials, such as bark and grass.

Like the ridged back of an old croc, a spine of mountain ranges run almost the entire 400km length of Grande Terre. Prior to 83 million years ago – before the birth of the Tasman Sea began to split this chunk of the ancient continent of Gondwana – New Caledonia, New Zealand and Australia were joined as a single landmass.