Where on Earth is Vanuatu?

Vanuatu is a volcanic island chain in the south west Pacific Ocean, between Fiji and Australia, just north of New Caledonia. There are about 90 islands with a total land area of 12,189 square kilometers reaching 900 km in a Y shape north-south direction.

The capital of Vanuatu is Port Vila, on the island of Efate. As you can see from the space photograph of Efate, most of the islands are lush green tropical forest. Except for two urban areas, Port Vila and Luganville on Santo, the small population of people lives in rural villages.
What's special about Vanuatu?

What's special about Vanuatu?

Vanuatu is one of the few places on Earth where you can literally transcend the modern 21st century world to a world of an ancient culture within a few kilometres.

In the capital of Port Vila, you will find the modcoms of modern living, mobile phones, internet, 24/7 connectivity with the world and within a 50 minutes plane flight to the island of Tanna, you will arrive into a world unchanged since the first contact made by Captain Cook. Villagers still cling to their roots, living a life free of technology, the women still attired in grass skirts and cooking with hot stones, the men cloth in nothing but their Nambas, (Penis Shealth), still hunting with spears and bow and arrows. The people still follow their ancestral traditions keeping alive their artwork, dances, music, etc. You will be transported to an era before the concept of time began.

Despite this, or perhaps, because of it, you feel a sense of safety and comfort at the same time.

Security, peace, a sense of wonder at the scenic splendor of nature, the coastline ranging from beach of whitest of white sands to ragged coastlines, waves caressing and crashing into a back ground of green mountainous jungle back ground.

These are some of the reasons people come from all over the world to live in or visit Vanuatu.

The people of Vanuatu are Melanesians and have a very strong and enduring attachment to their islands and their environment. Their strong sense of community and culture give the Ni-Vanuatu people peace and friendliness that extends to visitors and residents from other lands. Always ready with a smile and a wave as you walk or drive pass them. They are, in a word, nice.

Most of the small and widely distributed population (there are about 230,000 people living in the Republic of Vanuatu) are natives living in villages with their extended families. The expatriate community are of only a few thousand individuals, many of whom have been here for generations.

The ni-Vanuatu people are multilingual. Everyone speaks their own village language plus the universal Bislama, an English/French pidgin that you will quickly pick up. Most of the people also speak English and French.

For more information about Vanuatu,

Check out David Stanley's Moon travel handbooks for the South Pacific.