Current Situation

Dear all,

we are going to Vanuatu in July. Has anyone been there recently, and wonder what the current situation there is, especially in Tanna, that seems to have been quite affected. Anyone been there recently and has any update?

If you have access to Facebook, have a look for Humans of Vanuatu - and ask about the situation these days. I found this site to be excellent for finding out about the situation there after Hurricane Pam.

While I'm not in Vanuatu at the moment, my partner and friends are so I can say that Port Vila and surrounding communities on Efate island have essentially returned to 'close to normal' - hotels, activities, restaurants are all open and the crops are beginning to return. Santo, in the north, was completely unaffected and still an amazing holiday location especially if you scuba dive.

Check out the link #2 gave you; there is a group called Cyclone PAM Vanuatu on Facebook where you might get more information. On another note, the best thing you can do for the country is take your tourism dollars :-)

Hi all,

@jenibe, thanks for your input. I didnt find the mentioned Facebook page too helpful, but i found something else
http://www.discovervanuatu.com.au/tropical-cyclone-pam-hotel-update/

Anyhow, I'm back from the trip to that amazing country, so here is a bit of update:
As regards PAM, whereas Efate & Port Vila were quite affected, but in the city this is hardly visible, there are a few resorts that are still closed, but aside that basically everything is operational.
The same applies roughly to Tanna, but given it's remoteness and the generally low level of infrastructure does make an impact, so there is still a bit of destruction visible and quite a few places are still closed. As #3 said, going there does help to recover. Despite all that people there do keep up their good humour, and for me it has been one of the most rewarding things to just walk along the road and meet and chat to locals on the way.

As in some older posts here, people do discourage travelling by boat, we went with Vanuatu Ferry to Santo, which was straight forward (but you have to call not to try mail, FB etc.), Big Sista is operating on schedule as well, along with cargo boats like Brisk etc. Its not the real bargain in comparison to flying, but slow travel always is better quality and it too was an excellent opportunity to get to know folks.

One great place on Santo is Port Olry, which is basically ignored by LP and the Moon copy we had. It is a good alternative but to Champagne beach and around, its a nice village and surrounding. Speaking some french helps though and stack food & drinks as prices of the two only restaurants there are quite steep (although they do offer discounts for guests of the bungalows).

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