My second trip to the Pacific was for actual site visits instead of high level meetings. This time I headed to Tanna Island, Vanuatu for climate change vulnerability assessments in villages around the island. En route to Efate island (where the capital Port Vila is), we flew directly over New Caledonia.
After a quick night in Port Vila, I was back at the airport the following day for my flight to Tanna Island. After a couple hours of delays, they finally found a replacement aircraft and my seat ended up being in the cockpit with the pilot.
Before getting into the community photos, Tanna Island is known for 1 thing: Mt. Yasur. Mt Yasur is said to be the world's most accessible active volcano because with a good 4 wheel drive vehicle, you can drive and park 100m below the rim of the crater. The best time to go is at dusk so you can see the erruptions.
Tanna is pretty remote. There is no real grocery store on the island, just some convienence-type stores and a gas station that is housed in a shipping container. The island is also home to some of the Cargo Cult communities (see following photo with the American flag) who believe that an American will come with cargo for them.
We visited 5 different communities around the island to conduct vulnerability assessments and identify priority infrastrucure that was at risk to climate change impacts.
Kava being grown
The local language, Bislama, is a form of pigeon English. It's pretty easy to understand. The following list says: village, house, water tank, chief's house, coffee plantation, kava, garden, river, and road.
Number One Water. Good Water. Good Life.
One of the villages is only reachable by boat.
