Many visitors trek to Vuanatu’s Tanna Island for the volcanic experience, but we had more tribal instincts. This mysterious island of 29,000 is home to five indigenous languages and much indigenous culture. Cannibalism was practiced on the island until Western missionaries showed up in the 1600s. Over several days we visited six distinct kastom villages and cargo cults. Kastom communities adhere to traditional lifestyles and restrict the use of modern conveniences (though we did spot an occasional solar panel). Men wear penis sheaths, women grass skirts and most children do not attend public schools.
Yakel village is the most famous kastom village on the island, thanks to the Oscar-nominated film Tanna which was filmed there. Doata, self-taught in English and traditional medicine and a senior member of the tribe, functioned as our guide. When he’s not hosting tourists he doubles as the village doctor, although he’s never had any formal education. His father, who passed away at age 111, served at the tribe’s paramount chief and is buried in the ‘nakamal’. The nakamal, which is central to village life, is a meeting place under banyan trees. Every tribe has one, and men gather there in the afternoons to drink kava, a vital social custom. After touring the village, we returned to the nakamal where we were delighted by three ceremonial dances. After the performance, the villagers of Yakel did something special: every tribe member present lined up to shake our hands.
Our visits to the Imiao kastom village followed a similar format but with some subtle differences, and without the handshake. The Lemak tribe visit was fashioned around an experiential black magic theme, and we were ambushed to demonstrate how the missionaries were initially received. Each tribe charges 2,000 vatu (about US$16) per person. These fees provide an important source of income for the villages but also, unfortunately, create a veneer of commercialism and performative culture.
The longevity of Doata’s father points to a fringe benefit of the kastom way of life. Islands such as Sardinia and Okinawa are widely celebrated blue zones, or areas with exceptional longevity. Tanna Island also deserves membership in the elite blue zone club. We came across several instances of 100-plus lifespans in the villages we visited. I asked Doata the doctor why. He credited the common diet of taro, sweet potatoes and bananas, the practice of roasting foods, and active daily lives. To this list I would also add the seeming absence of stress, the emphasis on tradition, and the tight social connections of the 186-member Yakel tribe. The lush forest cover of the island, rich in nutrients from the volcanic ash spewed by Mount Yasur, also helps.
This village way of life also explains why Vanuatu consistently vaults near the top of the Happy Planet Index, which factors well-being, longevity, inequality and ecological footprint. “This Pacific archipelago’s unique combination of sustainability and tradition,” reported the BBC in 2020, “make it one of the happiest places in the world.” This probably also explains why, on an encore visit to Yakel a couple days later, we encountered a Polish nuclear physicist dressed in a penis sheath and croc footwear. The Pole first visited the village in 2010, and every year he spends a month living with the Yakel tribe. “I love it here,” he told me. “I get six weeks’ vacation every year. Why bother figuring out where else to go?”
Tanna Island is also home to cargo cults, myth-dream movements that flourished during and after World War II and believe in the appearance of an abundance of goods. During the war, islanders observed vast amounts of materiel airdropped to troops. Goods literally fell from the sky. We visited two such ongoing movements on Tanna, and both are mind blowing in their logic.
The John Frum movement, which believes an American servicemen will deliver wealth to its followers, sports its own flag alongside the American flag which flies prominently in the nakamal. The adults must have been mightily disappointed when this American showed up empty-handed, but the children curiously and enthusiastically welcomed us.
The Prince Philip movement, similarly, worships the late Duke of Edinburgh and believes he will return to his destined home on Tanna and bring with him prosperity to all. When I asked whether the death of Prince Philip complicates matters, our village guide told us that his spirit endures.
These village visits on Tanna were fascinating, but our sojourn to Pentecost Island to observe the land-diving ritual was thrilling. Land-diving is bungy jumping without a bungy. Pentecost is the kind of place where machetes are more common than footwear. Every Saturday in spring during the yam harvest, certain men on Pentecost jump off wooden towers around 20-30 metres high with two banyan tree vines wrapped around their ankles. They believe a good dive ensures a bountiful harvest.
On the Saturday of our visit, land dives occurred in three separate locations on the island. The land-diving is also a rite of passage for some young boys. When a boy is ready to become a man, he dives in front of his elders. We did not observe any boys making the dive during our visit, but many were on hand for the singing and dancing and the spectacle of it all.
The event takes place on a steep muddy hillside. Throughout the ritual, segregated men and women perform ceremonial dance and song on the slope overlooking the tower. On the platform, each diver performs a sort of prayer ritual on the ledge, with toes curled over the edge, for balance. The men don’t jump; they dive headfirst. As they approach the ground, the vines become taut before jerking the diver backward into the muddy slope, which cushions the impact. Two men are stationed at the base of the tower to maintain the vines and release the diver’s feet from the vines using a machete, and an elder supervises the safety precautions.
We witnessed 10 successful dives. This should bode well for a bountiful yam harvest.
HOW WE TRAVELLED
We flew Air Vanuatu between the capital of Port Vila and Tanna Island. Two weeks after our visit the flag carrier grounded its fleet and filed for bankruptcy protection. Going forward I would use Air Taxi Vanuatu, with whom we flew to Pentecost Island. They organised ground transport, which consisted of a wooden bench in the back of a pickup truck and provided a beach picnic lunch. Air Taxi Vanuatu organises charter flights to Vanuatu’s principal destinations while Virgin Australia and Fiji Airways operate regular international services to the country.
In Port Vila we stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort. The property is set on beautiful grounds on an unswimmable lagoon. What the property lacks in flash the staff make up for in friendliness. On Tanna Island we stayed at the Australian family-owned White Grass Ocean Resort, which offers a sweeping view of the water. The White Grass has accommodated Will Smith, Jackie Chan and other celebrities in their visits to Tanna. It’s far from luxurious, but they provide the necessary creature comforts. Eileen, who manages the front desk, is the real star. She arranged all our excursions, including our bespoke kastom village visits, our vivid volcano experience, and a snorkelling trip to the Blue Cave.
Adventurer and author Todd Miller has explored more than 100 countries on all continents. His Amazon bestseller ‘ENRICH: Create Wealth in Time, Money, and Meaning’ was lauded by Forbes, USA Today, Entrepreneur, and other global media. He resides at Natai Beach. www.enrich101.com