Pele Island, Vanuatu - to there!

ok it's taken me almost a year to write this post and sadly I have forgotten some of the smaller details but hopefully this will inspire you to go to a place that will just be a wonderful experience.

I had booked a holiday to Vanuatu last july and was looking for a beach bungalow like you get in Samoa or Thailand. I knew the beaches around Vila were average as I'd been there some years before.

I'd heard of Pele Island and Nguna off the north coast of Efate and from the info I could get, they seemed like what we were looking for.

It had been dismal rain for most of our time in Vila and continued to be overcast as we headed north. On the boat over we realised looking back that Efate was covered in cloud but Pele had blue skies! Brilliant. We were told when we arrived that the beach bungalow was booked for that night so the villagers walked us over to this gorgeous little two bedroom house. YOu could tell they'd poured their heart and soul into making it nice for visitors, very basic but bright colours, fresh flowers everywhere. It's right in the small village so the kids wander through and stare a bit at you in fasination, people come and chat...really interesting village life. the next day we were moved over to the beach bungalow - called Wora Namoa.

There is a beautiful story about this bungalow. An Australian school master visited the island (Can't remember the complete story now) and decided to help the village have an income that they really needed. He talked to the chief and some months later a whole class of Australian kids came over to stay for some weeks and they built the bungalow together. This was about a year and a half ago now I think. There are some lovely photos of the kids and their adoptive ni-vanuatu families, some of them had such an extraordinary experience they came back six months later and remain in contact with the villagers. The plan is to build 4 more bungalows on the beach (there's lots of room) in the years to come.

There was lots of confusion during our stay there - each time we asked the chief's name it seemed to be different, and then we would try and organise something and it wouldn't happen - but this is really because they are just being exposed to western ways. When we phoned we asked about Napanga Bungalows and assumed that was where we were, until we saw the sign by beach bungalow saying 'Wora Namoa'. There were a couple of smaller bungalows just by the landing where the boats pull up so that must have been them.

The bungalow is gorgeous, really quite large with a outside eating area. The food was great - incredible for a village that doesn't have power or running water. They treat their guests so well - the ladies would come over and chat, so you learn about their culture, the kids run around on the beach, absolutely adorable. It's a very happy place. It is traditional so you will have breakfast at 7am - that's when the women are cooking for the men when they leave to go to do their work (tending the vege gardens, repairing a building etc), lunch will be at 11am and dinner at 5pm. There is nothing to do at night!! Take lots of books. The beach where the bungalow was located is ok, pretty but not stunning.. you need to walk about 30 mins? to anohter beach where the day trip comes - stunning. The turtle project is based here and a Peace Corp volunteer is stationed in this village - very interesting to chat. The chief of that village wanted money to lie on his beach - fair enough - but we keep walking up the beach as we wanted to get up to the point where you can cross to Nguna (very very long walk!) and it's just as stunning so we ended up swimming there. Wow.

The whole experience was amazing. Lovely warm hearted people - remember it's a traditional village, I wore shorts one day just above my knees and felt like I was causing some people discomfort so changed into longer pants. We swam in T-shirts. The little girls were just fascinated with our hair and would play with it, singing away to themselves.

Oh right I am so rambling on... The food was great - always a little salad, fresh fish or chicken - the ladies would come and set the table up in front of the bungalow with a tablecloth and always decorate it with fresh flowers... the toilet would always be cleaned twice a day, fresh toilet paper, fresh water brought to the bungalow. 5 star service that's for sure. From memory the bungalow and meals cost something like $50 or $60NZD each a night - bargain for Vanuatu.

They are the most welcoming lovely people. When we came to leave after three days, people came to see us off and the lady (Elizabeth?) had tears in her eyes.

You will need to book ahead, take a torch and be comfortable to be somewhere a little remote. Actually when we went back to Vila, it was market day so many of the men and women were going to market and it didn't take too long at all. Apparently the road around that side of the island is going to be paved soon which will see HUGE changes for these islands.

We tried to get to Nguna, someone's uncle had a boat - but when we got to the crossing at the far end of the island the uncle hadn't been on Pele for weeks and there were no other boats around. Still, the views were to die for. I had thought about going to Emao but when I got to Pele realised it's very remote, often quite high seas. Even the Pele Islanders don't go there very often.

Right that's it. We could never figure out if there was a ferry timetable... we definitely paid more than what I'd read on the thorn tree but at the end of the day, we wanted to get there!

Happy travels! And remember a torch and your own snorkel gear.

Great story. I always take some sort of handcraft as well as books when staying in villages in Solomon Islands. The women oftne want to learn whatever it is I am doing.