Visit the Kwaio bush people at the end of April

Hey TT,

I'm planning on taking a trip to the Solomons in the last week of April (19th to 28th) and I plan on visiting the Kwaio bush people on the island of Malaita. I am a solo male traveller from Australia and I wanted to see if anyone else was interested in joining me on this excursion. It involves flyin into Honiara, taking a boat trip to Auki, doing some driving/canoeing with guides and a hike to the villages of the Kwaio in the remote forests of the mid eastern coastal area of Malaita. These particular people have apparently rejected the modern world and still love traditionally, which is something that is rapidly disappearing in our modern world, so better to witness these lifestyles while they are still around!. Just send me a message if you are interested. The trip will be cheaper and safer with more people.

Also, if anyone who reads this happens to have any information on this trip, I would love advice or any information you can impart to me about the nature of this journey (tour guide names, costs, accommodation, etc)

Ian

This experience is way overhyped in the LP guide, seemingly based on accounts of a Honiara-based guide who takes tourists there.

Having met said guide and finding him a highly dubious character, I decided to go it alone with a guide from a coastal Kwaio village.
It was one of the most unpleasant experiences in the South Pacific. The bush Kwaio are spoilt rotten by high-paying tour groups and charge exorbitant prices for photos while being as unfriendly as possible. Only women wear traditional dress, men were all in shorts and T-shirts.

Tanna and Santo in Vanuatu offer incomparably more rewarding experiences for visiting traditional Melanesian tribes - more traditional ones, and far, far more hospitable.

If you still want to go, good luck.
Visiting on a prearranged tour, as most tourists do, might ensure a somewhat less unfriendly reception, with maybe even fees for photos etc already included.

I sort of agree with Laszlo in that there is one 'tour' outlet that I know of that takes you to a 'kastom' village in E. Kwaio. It is up the hill from Gwanabusu, not way back in the bush, it was built solely for tourists, has nothing to do with kastom, and the company was run by a couple of dubious characters. Not sure who runs it now, but back then (2002) it catered to Swedish visitors. I know of one Swedish visitor who was disgusted with the 'tour' due to the dubious guide at the time (the guide known to both Laszlo and myself). This guide is a relative of my E. Kwio friend; my friend has nothing good to say about the man at all and refuses to have any contact with him.

I've also been to E. Kwaio and stayed in two different villages well away from Atoifi, the main stop and airstrip. These were the home villages of my E. Kwaio friends so my stays in these two villages were almost idyllic, although physically strenuous, for me anyway. The hospitality afforded by the villagers was above reproach. The only thing I had to pay for was canoe rental and the gas to run it, they don't have any money. It's unfortunate that Laszlo had such a bad time there, and I agree with him that the problem lies with high-paying tour groups that flooded in after E. Kwaio opened up to foreigners in. Back in 1994, foreigners needed an invitation to visit E. Kwaio (not law, just kastom) and even locals from W. Kwaio were not welcome unless there were family ties.

Remember that they have only just become part of a cash economy and have no real idea of the value of anything, so overcharging can be rife. But again I've only run into that once on Malaita, in Auki, and just dismissed the guy. He was a well-known con-man.

The presence of the RAMSI troops has not helped the situation economically, in fact it has created such a humungous rise in prices that locals are having a hard time stretching what little money they have just in order to eat. So yes, now they could possibly be on the look-out for a tourist hand-out.

But enjoy anyway! You might prefer Vanuatu as Laszlo suggests, but for me it's Solomon Islands, hands down.

Kwaio is probably not my preferred part of Malaita. I have spent considerable time in the Lau Lagoon, Kwara'Ae , the Are'are Lagoon, etc.
You might have difficulty even getting to East Kwaio in a one week time frame, as the roads are bad or non-existent. You might be better looking at the Solomon Airlines timetable for direct flights to Atoifi.

There isn't anything of interest in Atoifi other than the hospital. Onward trips are either on foot or by 'canoe'. Visiting the bush people probably still requires an invitation, don't know, though, so you probably need to check on that before heading off on spec. Are'Are is more accommodating than Kwaio.