Tanna Island, Vanuatu

Vanuatu is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Not only are the beaches magnificent (and coming from an Aussie, that is a complement), the people are the friendliest and the most beautiful I have ever met. To say that I have fallen in love with Vanuatu is an understatement. The country has enchanted many Aussie-expats who now call Vanuatu home.

Whilst there I flew to Tanna Island, which is south of the capital Port Vila. Tanna Island is unique in the way that it has retained most the islanders’ traditional ways. It also has a great big whopping (and still very active) volcano on it’s eastern side.

Yasur volcano was what led Captain James Cook to Tanna and it’s glow lights up the nights sky and can be seen from many kilometers away. The night time viewings are magnificent and yet it’s very humbling as well. The volcano apparently still claims lives as you can walk right up to the lip (something I declined to do). People have been killed by flying rocks and the gases expelled by the volcano. My advice is to check with the guides first for any recent activity before going on the 15 minute walk to the rim.

Another interesting thing about the Yasur area is Sulphur Bay. It is home to the John Frums, a cargo cult. Apparently during the Second World War the Americans would drop aid from cargo planes. The locals being naive believed that it was a god rewarding them for their deeds. So they started adoring the “Gods who live in Amerika”. I asked why they were called the John Frums Amerika and was told that it is a play on the phrase “John from America”. If you go to Sulphur Bay you’ll see flags with the Red Cross and USA written on them. At least someone in the world loves the Americans!

Accommodation on Tanna is great and also varied. I stayed on the western coast but traveling to the other side (although by 4WD) was easy.

One thing I was gutted about is the fact that on the night before I flew back to Port Vila I found out that Tanna is also home to the Prince Philip tribe. I had heard about them but I never realised that they were there. I also missed out on other things having arrived the last day of Tanna’s biggest event, missing out on most of the traditional disappointingly. So my best advice is to google the island before going just so you don’t miss out on anything. Google people!

As I said the people are great. They are friendly but also strange in a nice way. Before leaving our resort I was given the following tip: Don’t ask the locals a question that could confuse. Apparently when you ask a question that may contain the answer, then people will just agree with you. Like “Is the beach that way?”. They’ll just say yes even if they know it’s not. I have no idea why and I never had any problems although I did find that they spoke a combination of English and French. It’s called bislama.

The kids are absolutely adorable and are very cheeky and laugh a lot. I will warn you! If you travel to the more traditional villages be prepared to see a lot of semi naked people. Even though they wear small things over their privates and grass skirts, you can still see “bits”. But this isn’t the majority of locals from Vanuata, where most wear normal (if very colourful) clothes.