Matt's travel notes for Vanuatu

I just returned from 2 weeks in Vanuatu (17 April 2011 - 1 May 2011), and felt the need to jot down the following travel notes in case others find them useful.

In general
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Take your mobile - I would recommend taking your mobile, and buying a local Vanuatu SIM card once you've arrived. Very handy to book tours and hotels while you're on the road. It means you can be reached by others as well. This is important in a place like Vanuatu where things are not always straight forward to say the least.

Get a local SIM - I arrived in Port Vila on a Sunday and managed to buy a SIM card for the TVL network at the big DVD store a few hundred meters south of the market along Lini Hwy for 400 Vatu. If you have a choice though, go for a Digicell SIM card - much better coverage.

Rifil cards - To top up your credit, you can buy "Rifil" cards almost everywhere, even in small villages. Look for shops with the Digicell sign. Make sure it matches your network (TVL or DigiCell). Follow the instructions on the card, it's very easy. For my 2 week trip where I visited Santo, Tanna and Efate, I used about 2000 Vatu credit.

Give Air Vanuatu your local mobile number when you reconfirm your first domestic flight. That way, they can inform you when your flight goes later (or earlier!)

Latest version of LP for South Pacific (4th edition) sucks - They took out a lot of info compared with previous versions. It will hint that you can do certain things, but doesn't specify how to arrange them. Try to get another guide, or combine an older version of the LP guide with the latest version for updated contact details.

Tanna
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Going in a group saves money - If you're visiting places like Tanna or Santo, try to go in a group so you can share transport costs. On Tanna, the roads are terrible and there is no public transport, making transfers very expensive if you're on your own. You may be able to share with others, but it takes a lot of asking around and a lot of luck.

Views from the plane - When flying Vila to Tanna, sit on the left hand side of the plane for great views of Tanna, Erromango and Efate.

Yakel village - At the Lenakel Cove Resort booked a half day tour to Yakel village. 6000 Vatu for transport, 1000 Vatu entrance to the village. Unlike other villages where people use western clothing, these people still wear the old penis sheaths and grass skirts in daily life. Amazing, real step back in time. Well worth the money and the time.

Getting picked up from the airport - If you arrange for your accommodation to pick you up from the airport, establish the price for this beforehand. I didn't do this when I stayed at the Sunset Resort close to Lenakel, and when I checked out they charged me 2500 Vatu for the transfer (a taxi would have cost 1000 Vatu).

Port Resolution Yacht Club - In the east, I stayed at the Port Resolution Yacht Club for 2500 Vatu per night. In spite of its posh name, this is a simple but nice place. It looks out over Port Resolution bay, has direct access to a very secluded and private beach and is next to Port Resolution village. I liked it there and the owner, Werry, is a good man.

John Frum village - If you're on Tanna on a Friday night, you can combine a trip to Mt Yasur to the dancing at Sulphur Bay (the John Frum village). Sulphur bay is right next to Mt Yasur - first you go to Mt Yasur (around dusk), then to Sulphur Bay (where the dancing goes on all night). Ask your accommodation to arrange this.

Shark bay - I was told by the locals that the sharks are only in residence from June/July to January. I was there in late April and there were indeed no sharks :-(
It's easy to walk from the Port Resolution Yacht Club (PRYC) to Shark Bay. It's about 4km one way. From PRYC, walk down the main road through the village. Keep going. After about 3km you get to a sign for the "Tanna Island Dream Bungalows". Walk on (don't turn left) and you get to the intersection with the road to Mt Yasur and Lenakel - keep going straight (don't turn right). You're now on the road that hugs the east coast of the island. After a few hundred meters you'll see a school on your left and then a sign for "Chark Bay" on your left. You'll see there is a village there. Walk into the village and ask the first adult you see for the way to Shark Bay. They'll charge a few hundred Vatu entrance per person. They'll then guide you to Shark Bay where there is a small viewing platform with excellent views down to the bay (it's not easy to find on your own). When you're ready to leave, ask the guide for the way to the beach. This entails going through the bush to a cliff with a rickety ladder down to the beach (hard to find on your own). Walk down the beach (keep the ocean at your right hand side) for a few km. I saw quite a few locals on the beach and snorkeling and fishing in the surf. It's a nice beach. You will get to what looks like a clearing with a few huts. The clearing sits a bit higher than the beach. Hop onto the clearing and you'll find a road going towards the main road. Follow that road. You'll get to an intersection - turn left. After a while you hit the main road, at the "Tanna Island Dream Bungalows" sign. Turn right to walk back to Port Resolution. Even though I didn't see any sharks, I thought this made an enjoyable walk.

Santo
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Views from the plane - When flying from Vila to Santo, if you sit on the right hand side of the plane you'll get a great view of Efata and the islands between Vila and Santo. However, if you're on the left hand side, you'll get a much better view of Santo itself.

Lysepsep culture park - The tourist office in Luganville told me that this is closed indefinitely because of a land dispute.

Million Dollar point - You can see a lot by going snorkeling. When you walk towards the beach from the road, turn right when you reach the water to see a lot of metal debris deposited on the beach by a cyclone. I bought a snorkel mask and snorkel in the Luganville Shop next to the Unity Park Motel (1750 Vatu), you can't rent this at Million Dollar point. At Million Dollar point, swim/walk about 15 meters away from the beach to see lots of remains. If you are desperate to avoid the 300 Vatu entrance fee, when travelling down the road from Luganville, walk into the last track to the beach (at the right hand side of the road) before the turn off with the entrance booth. When you hit the beach, turn left and you'll walk into the debris.

Diving operators not 100% professional - When I went diving with Aquamarine, one of the other divers in the group told me she had missed out on a previous dive because they didn't have the equipment for her. For example, they had only one fin for her! On the other hand, they charge only 5500 Vatu per dive, including gear hire. Also, a woman getting her dive certificate through them said they had taken her to the President Coolidge wreck on her second dive, which is great.

Trekking organised by "Wrecks To Rainforest" - I was initially interested in doing a 3 day trek in Santo with the company "Wrecks To Rainforest", sleeping in traditional villages and doing the Millenium cave. However, I found that when there's only 1 or 2 of you, this is extremely expensive. Also, note that Funaspef village where you get to overnight is not all that traditional, and when you do the popular 1 day Millenium cave tour with any operator, you pass through that village anyway. To see the much more interesting MalMal people, you would have to do the 5 day trip. Get "Wrecks To Rainforest" to send you prices and itinaries before planning to do a tour with them.

Millenium Cave 1 day tour - I did the 1 day Millenium Cave tour, which is offered by every tour operator in Santo. This is great fun, not to be missed. First you walk through the jungle to Funaspef village. After that it is a bit further on to the cave, with some steep slippery descents. They give you a torch while you're in the cave. It's pitch dark in there and you're walking up to thigh deep through water. You can get a villager to carry your bag to the other end of the cave where you have lunch (take you own, not provided by the tour). After the cave, you swim through a very beautiful canyon to a point close to Funaspef, while a villager carries your bag to the village (so it doesn't get wet). The bag transfers are included in the tour, they're not an extra cost. You then climb a rickety ladder to get out of the canyon and then walk through the jungle back to Funaspef and then back to the car. I'd say that even though the cave is good, the canyon is even better! Truly stunning. Very similar to the best canyons in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney.

Note though that you do want to wear your shoes through the cave and the canyon, and that they will get wet! It's very rocky and there is a lot of climbing over rocks, so bare feet or slippers won't work well. Also, there is some intricate (and fun!) rock scrambling while going through the canyon - not suitable if you're overweight or very unfit or can't swim.

Levanton kastom village - I arranged a tour to this supposed kastom village through Sandy (867 1114). Cost 5000 Vatu, which includes transport (by taxi) and entrance to the village (so no more to pay). The village is actually quite close to Luganville, definitely closer than Fanafo. Was a bit disappointed, because unlike Yakel on Tanna this is a show purely for tourists. They change into traditional clothing especially for you (they actually prefer western clothing they told me) and do a couple of dances and performances for you. This includes a challenge by fearsome warriors when you approach the village, after which the chief appears saying it's all good. You also see half a dozen women get into essentially a concrete pool where they perform a welcome ritual by making sounds under water with their hands, which was pretty amazing. It was all over after an hour. Was left wondering whether visiting Fanafo would have given me a more "authentic" experience.

Thank you for the excellent report Matt. This one should be added to the FAQs.
Your comment about the latest LP book also applies to the latest one for Solomon Islands, which has been tacked onto the end of Papua New Guinea, and leaves out most of the important information.

A very good description! Thank you for the information. Parts of it I will use when I am there in july!

Great report. No plans to go to Vanuatu but it was an interesting read.

"It will hint that you can do certain things, but doesn't specify how to arrange them." Heh - that's the LP style.

Hi there Matt (and anyone else who can help),
thanks for the comprehensive post.
We are heading to Vanuatu for a week and I'm finding it really hard to decide where to stay. A lot of the upmarket hotels have special deals if you stay for 7 nights, but do you think once we've arrived we'll regret being pigeon holed in the one place? It seems like everything is spread across the different islands.... do you think we should just book accom as we go, so if we find somewhere we like we can just stay there, or is it feasible to do day trips and return to the same accom every night. At the moment we are looking at staying at Ramada at breakas beach, or somewhere similar (near port vila). there's a lot of good deals going online and swimming/snorkelling/chilling is as high on the list as adventure) Are these hotels doing special deals because they are in a boring/ugly area?
thanks!

Seven days is a really short time to visit more than one (or possibly 2) islands. You might find a hotel deal is worth it, even if you take a few days in the middle to go to another island.

Hi beatieboe, you'll find you get better rates if you book before you arrive. There's a lot to see and do in Port Vila so choose somewhere you'll be happy to come back to - my recommendation is decide if you want to self-cater or be catered-to and make your choice based on location. The bigger resorts ( I really like Le Lagon and Eratap by the way ) will offer dining, bars and full service whilst the smaller lodges might not do this but you'll have a kitchen to cook in..you can do a day trip to Tanna or even stay overnight. If you plan to do most of your trip in and around Port Vila it will be convenient to leave everything in one place. Anything around Erakor Lagoon or the beach front would be my tip - central Vila is very convenient for restaurants etc though..

Hello,
I have just read OP's report. Quite informative.
As for Tanna, I would like to recommend the visit to Ipai Village and to Kalangia. The purpose of visit is to see the traditional dancing and village life. Both are quite different and cannot be compared. Although I did not visit Yakel, I assume it resembles Kalangia in many ways since it it the same tribe residing there. Both day excursions were organized by the guesthouse which I was staying in. It is called Evergreen Bungalows. They employ 2-3 drivers and offer several tours around the island.
The dancing in Ipai village was an amazing sight to the eyes and a perfect chance for photo lovers since the traditional clothings were so colorful. The backdrop was a green lush rainforest and hence the variety of colors, traditional dressing and singing made it one of the rare experiences in my life which I could encounter a completely different world not seen before.
There is more than a mere truth in what OP says about the tourists' show rather than the real authentic thing when the dance performers dress especially for the occassion. However, it is still exciting and not to be missed.
I was the only tourist going to the Kalangia village. Again, it is a blend of a tourists' show with the real thing. There was a woman dressed in a special traditional skirt made of tree fibers who explained to me about the village life and the crops grown in her plot. The children were gathering around me and performed some circle dancing. Another young boy was chatting with me in English. The final part was to meet with the men of the village sitting under a banyan tree. The chief came to welcome me. They were all naked except a sheath covering their penis. Then there was the kastom dancing. Quite an experience ! ( Almost......there was an organized tour of about 15 Japanese around the age of 40-50 coming when my visit was about to end. Yelling and shouting and trying to immitate the dancers singing in loud voices. Still, they had not enough time to spoil my experience.

As for Santo- I organized a tour by Wrecks and Rainforest ( the tour operator ) to Tanmet village. This is a traditional Malmal village and it is recommended in the Lonely Planet guidebook. I guess it is more or less like the other Malmal villages but as I was told, it is the oldest one. It was a three nights trek. Sleeping in the village was only in the second night. Unfortunately, when I arrived to the village, the chief and his men went for a marketing day in the nearby place. So actually we missed the kastom dancing which could have been arranged by him and we could not sleep in his house. Despite all this, the Tanmet village visit was a great experience for me since in this place ( unlike others) you can see the REAL traditional rural life of Vanuatu. No false performances. I saw children making up games, I saw two young women preparing the typical dishes inside their house and I cannot forget the hospitabilty of the few people who stayed in the village this day. Again, it is a perfect place to take photos of the real Vanuatu.
The tour cost was 35,000 Vatu which is not cheap at all but yet, deserves any single vatu.
The first night I slept in some village ( not Malmal ) . The place looked to me more as a tourists facilities rather than a village because there were only a few people there. I guess the village huts were more up in the hills. There was a beautiful gorgeous river not far from my accommodation where I could have a refreshing swim. The backdrop is amazing. There is a lot of vegetation around and it enhances the experience of feeling secluded.
You can combine the tour of the Millenium cave on the last day fourth day. Unfortunately, I felt sick and could not do this.
Please note that the way to the village is quite demanding and can be strenuous at times. You need to be well fit with good walking shoes. I am a bit novice. I did not wear any socks on the second day and consequently, I had big open wounds in my ankles. I had to go to the hospital after this trek and got a shot and some antibiotics to take for 10 days. Just be aware and learn from my experience..