Vanuatu Vacation and Trip Information

Vanuatu is a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean about one thousand miles east of Australia. A chain of 83 islands, several with active volcanoes (the last eruption occurred in 1945), the capital city of Port Vila lies on the island of Efate. Espiritu Santo, or Santo, and Malakula are the two largest islands, accounting for nearly a half of the total land area.

Although only about 218,000 people call Vanuatu home, most indigenous Melanesian, there are 105 local languages. Pottery fragments discovered date back to 1300-1100 B.C., though not much else is known of ancient people on the islands. Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandez de Quiros sighted Espiritu Santo in 1606, thinking it was a southern continent. He was wrong. Europeans quickly forgot the islands, rediscovering them in 1768. France and Britain agreed to jointly administer the islands in 1906 in a unique form of government. After World War II, the mythical American John Frum inspired a “cargo cult,” many of which came about when remote, indigenous people came into contact with the wealth and seemingly endless supply of goods for G.I.s stationed in the South Pacific. While many of these cults died out, John Frum lives on, both with John Frum Day (February 15) and as a religion and political party with a member in Parliament. The Republic of Vanuatu was created in 1980.

Vanuatu claims to offer the best homemade jams and pickles in the South Pacific along with its idyllic island scenery. Volcano safaris, Malekula cultural dances and a Survivor television show filming location are all possibilities beyond sun bathing and scuba diving.