Tanna Island is a 35 minute flight south of Port Vila. Most of the island’s population continue to live a fairly traditional lifestyle living off the land; only 6% are in paid employment. We went on a tour to a custom village where the residents have chosen to live a traditional lifestyle, speaking only the local dialects and wearing traditional dress (or lack there of). The kids played a game similar to blind man’s bluff, one of men demonstrated how to light a fire by rubbing a stick on a piece of wood and the villagers did some traditional dances for us.
Tanna is probably best known for its active volcano, Mt Yasur, which we visited on our second day on the island. Whilst the island is only 10 km wide, it was a circuitous 35 km 4 wheel drive trek to get to the Volcano. The 90 minute journey was well worth it as the volcano put on an exciting display for us, blasting molten lava hundreds of metres into the air at regular intervals.
Snorkelling is also a highlight and there was great snorkelling just near where we stayed. We also went on a boat trip to the Blue cave. The cave is only accessible from the sea and has featured in one the James Bond movies. A small opening at the top of the cave allows shafts of light to penetrate the water in the cave.
We took a taxi to the main village on the island (population about 600) to escape the expensive prices at the resort restaurant. The village restaurant had one item on the menu so we ate the meat and rice. The few tiny morsels of meat tasted like shoe leather, but it was cheap (except for the taxi fares to and from the village).
Overall we had a enjoyable time on Tanna it really was a nambawan destination.
No comments:
Post a Comment