Espiritu Santo

by Doctor GlobetrotterJul 23, 2023Uncategorized0 comments

Mesmerizing beaches and Kastom villages

Because of its variety, Espiritu Santo became my favourite island in Vanuatu. If you´re open to taking longer hikes off the beaten track, you can visit some kastom or half-kastom villages and learn about the traditional lifestyle. If you need some relaxing time, the island can offer some of the most impressive white sand beaches I’ve ever seen and it is also a paradise for snorkelers and divers!

Best places to visit on Espiritu Santo

1. Port Olry

A relaxed fishing village with white sand beaches around it on the north-eastern coast.

2. Luganville

The second biggest town of Vanuatu.

3. Champagne and Lannoc Beach

White sand beaches close to Hog Harbour

4. Kastom villages

Traditional villages in the southern and central part of the island.

5. Million Dollar point

A world famous diving spot just outside of Luganville.

Port Olry, Champagne, and Lannoc Beach

Port Olry is a relaxed fishing village in the northeastern corner of Santo. In the village itself there is not a lot to see: they have a church, school, some bungalows, but the beaches around the village are incredible white sand beaches with christal clear water. South from Port Olry, beside Hog Harbor village there are 2 other first class beaches, Champagne beach and Lannoc beach. Champagne beach is the most famous beach in whole Santo and cruise ships often stop there, but it has an entrance fee and personally I don´t find it nicer than the others.

Luganville

With a population of 18.000 inhabitants, Luganville is the second biggest town in Vanuatu. Compared to Port Vila, it has a much more relaxed atmosphere and the local products are also cheaper. The traditional market in the city center is a great place to shop for fruits and vegetables and to try out some local meals (like laplap) sold by the Mamas on the market. Apart from offering lower prices than Port Vila, you also find a bigger variety of products on the market and the traditional eco-friendly packages from banana leaves are also impressive.

Kastom villages

As usual, we started exploring the mountainous areas first and our plan was to visit Marakai Kastom village. On the way, we were lucky enough to be picked up by the same truck that was also taking the Chief of Parisa village, Timothy. So he immediately invited us to stay in his village, and we could sleep in one of the houses that was still under construction. He connected us with one of the sons of the Chief of Marakai who was partly living down the hill to be able to organize the selling of their kava and to be able to send his son to school. It turned out that the local kastom chiefs will have a meeting these days and the Chief of Marakai will also be taking part there. This meant that we couldn’t go to Marakai, as the Chief was going to be absent, but we could go to the other village on the way, close to Maloevole, where the meeting was held. So that´s what we did and Timothy accompanied us all the way.

The lifestyle in the Kastom villages in this region is also changing rapidly. The Chief of Marakai explained to us that in the last years, many families moved from Marakai to other villages closer to the main road. More and more families would like to send their children to school, which would be impossible from the far-away villages. Medical services are also available only on the main road. In the isolated villages, only kastom medicine is available, in case of emergency they have to carry the sick person down to the main road. We noticed some punctual scars on the abdomen of Timothy and asked him what it was. He explained to us, that as he was a kid and had a swollen belly (because of hypoproteinemia, even nowadays many of the children show signs of it in kastom villages), they performed a “kastom surgery” on him, where small cuts were made on his abdomen to let the “bad blood out”. We also saw younger men, around 20-30 years old with similar scars, but Timothy explained that in recent years these kinds of kastom surgeries are not performed anymore.