What I wish I had known about Santo (Vanuatu) before going...

In October 2012, I spent a total of 7 days on Santo as a solo traveler. Generally speaking I have found Santo to be one of the less endearing Pacific islands I have visited, and also considerably less charming than both Malekula and especially Tanna which I visited later throughout my trip. (See my separate posts about them…)
Probably the major reason why I have felt this way is because to me Santo is not very scenically beautiful.

Obviously this is my personal, highly subjective opinion, perhaps based on unrealistic expectations and/or me already having become jaded to a certain degree. The fact that there was unusually much rain and drizzle for late September certainly didn’t help matters.

In this context I find it worth mentioning that I’ve been quite unhappy with the LP’s write-up on Vanuatu in general, and its description of Santo in particular. Some authors appear to be in the habit of writing as if they were paid to sell the place to prospective visitors, rather than objectively focusing on the facts. Personally, when I consult a guidebook for information, I don’t like having to read between the lines and cut through the hyperbole to get a realistic idea about a place. Everything is [quote] “totally fantastic”, “absolutely gorgeous”, “unbelievably exciting”, and of course Luganville is “the dive capital of the world”, and “Champagne Beach” one of the nicest beaches on the planet. Come on! (Rant over :)

I didn’t find the “picture-perfect” northern beaches all that beautiful or pleasant for a number of reasons. Champagne Beach in particular is tainted by the rickety infrastructure built up for cruise ship visits. IMO they are nice beaches, but certainly not spectacular.

At Port Orly there is a nice local little restaurant in the village which serves tasty meals for little money, and you get a chance to mingle with the locals. In my mind this is a much better choice than eating at the slow and expensive (1800+ Vatu for a meal) beach-front tourist restaurant.

I dived the Coolidge, which was an okay experience, but unfortunately the visibility was quite bad on the day I went. Having dived Chuuk Lagoon earlier this year, my mixed feelings about this wreck were perhaps another case of me having become a bit jaded. One dive cost me 6900 Vatu including equipment. After your dive(s) you could ask to get dropped off at Aori Island resort for lunch. They welcome visitors, the beach setting is nice, and you can take their free shuttle back to Luganville at 4pm.

In an effort to make the most of my stay I tried to access some of the remote kastom villages in the southern hills. Other than going through one of the established tour companies which charge an arm and a leg for setting up a tour for a solo traveler I asked around to find an experienced local guide who would take me. The idea was to set off in Fanafo and hike to the village of Tantui near Millenium cave on the first day, spend the night, continue to the remote village of Tanmet on the second day, spend another night, and walk out of the jungle on the third day. My bad luck was that short after starting the trek it started to drizzle, and not long after the drizzle turned into heavy rain. The trail would have been challenging in dry conditions, but became a significant challenge when the rain started falling. I admire the locals for sure-footedly “skating” up and down the muddy trails with apparent ease. For me it was a nightmare, despite using two walking sticks. I slipped and slid, fell numerous times soiling myself with mud all over, and didn’t manage to keep my feet dry while my trekking shoes turned into lumps of mud. I do realize that the difficulties I was experiencing were also due to the fact that I was lacking adequate equipment for those harsh conditions. For much of the way the guide had to “bushwhack” a path through the thick undergrowth. At one point he left me behind for going ahead to scout the right path as it had become invisible in the thick of the vegetation. We reached Tantui village after 6 painful hours and received a friendly welcome by the village chief and his son. We spent the rest of the day there, ate fire-cooked yams, drank kava, and had a long chat before going to sleep at 7:30pm. The rain continued falling throughout the night and the following morning, so making the decision against tackling the 9 hour trek up into the hills to reach Tanmet was not a difficult one to make. We walked out of the jungle and caught a local truck back to Luganville. The moral of the story, and perhaps lesson for anyone considering attempting such a trek, is…

1) to be aware of the trail conditions and having adequate equipment for tackling it.

2) not to underestimate the difficulty, especially if the trek is attempted after/during rainfall.

I paid 12000 Vatu for the unfinished tour as well as a total of 4000 Vatu for transportation to and from the trail to receive this lesson. Despite this “unfinished business” I was quite happy with my guide Eliof. If anyone is interested in contacting him to arrange any kind of jungle walk feel free to PM me. Just be aware that Eliof is francophone and speaks little English. It’s good enough to communicate though. On the other hand my guess is that if you go through one of the established tour companies such as “Wrecks to Rainforests” you get a much better briefing and service than what I have received. Then again, you obviously pay handsomely for this.

Please see my posts about Malekula and Tanna, if you are interested. I enjoyed those islands more (especially Tanna)…

Edited by: Taekyon2

Edited by: Taekyon2

Thank you for sharing this valuable information!

While I agree with your comments on LP in general, I actually did find Champagne Beach one of the best in the South Pacific - and I don't think I am easy to impress.
I also found lots of rugged scenic beauty and very interesting traditional villages in Santo's interior.

Laszlo, thanks for your comments! As mentioned, unfortunately I didn't have a lot of luck accessing places I had been interested in visiting in Santo's interior. If I had, I'm sure this would have affected my overall impression of the island.

hi Taekyon2
Thanks for a useful info about Santo.
I'm visiting Santo after Christmas...and I'm interested in trekking and visiting villages.
You mentioned that you were satisfied with your guide on Santo, can you give mi his contact?
I would rather prefer to have local guide with good local knowledge, who can take to some not very known villages..., than go with organised tour to most visited villages.
Also you mentioned that you did not have proper equipment for walking the muddy terrain...what exactly would you take now with you?
I expect that during December it can be even worse...because the rainy season starts.

Have you also visited Ambrym? I saw your articles about Tanna and Malekula though...
I'm deciding between Ambrym and Tanna. Both of them have active volcanoes...so the question is: which one
has more interesting custom villages. I'm not really looking for villages where they do a performance for a organised tour in a separate part of the village that is only used for these occasions.
I'm more interested to see the real village not very touristic (i.e. requires some decent bushwalk), where you can stay during night, try their food...
Also the important thing is how difficult are tracks to volcanoes on Ambrym during wet season...Is it accessible all year around? or it really depends?

thanks

leefo

Sorry for my late reply. I was travelling and only saw this now...

Unfortunately I cannot find my guide's phone number anymore. His name was Eliof. You can try asking around for him or other guides.

As for the equipment...I'm not an experienced trekker so I'm probably the wrong person to ask. I wish I had had solid hiking boots with ankle support, a sleeping mat and proper sleeping bag, a rain poncho, and walking sticks. All these would have helped me a lot.

I didn't visit Ambrym so I cannot compare it with Tanna or give advice about conditions on the ground. Personally I think if you already plan on doing bush walks and visits to remote villages on Santo, there's no need to do the same thing again on either Ambrym or Tanna.