Wala, Vanuatu

Cruise ship in Sight, the Fair Settles In


Of departure
Inhabitants of Malekula and other surrounding islands leave Wala with the cruise in the background.
a half-pout
Child watches a group of native women as they pose for the photograph.
bathing art
Woman present at the Wala fair giza geometric designs on the island's sand.
Melanesian forest
Soaked jungle of Malekula, one of the islands of the great archipelago of Vanuatu.
a certain curiosity
Children grouped under a shelter as a light rain falls on the beach.
an orderly shipment
Vendors and other fair participants prepare to sail from Wala, Vanuatu archipelago.
Vanuatu teddy bear
Woman holds child in plush teddy bear costume.
rain islands
Mist hangs over small islets around Malekula, Vanuatu.
on a soggy path
Native women in a muddy clearing near the fair.
exchange time
Natives line up to exchange dollars left by Australian, New Zealand and other visitors for vatus, the currency of Vanuatu.
generations of yellow
Father and blond son by the waterfront of Wala, Vanuatu.
after closing
Natives with their large bags of products that they take to the market in Wala, Vanuatu.
bar to be to be
The market stall is in charge of giving a taste of kava (the traditional drink of the Melanesian and Vanuatu nations) to ferry passengers.
Chiefs in Vanuatu
Malekula-Wala Tribal Chiefs
Warriors in Vanuatu
Two young warriors display the ni vanuatu war outfits.
In much of Vanuatu, the days of the population's “good savages” are behind us. In times misunderstood and neglected, money gained value. And when the big ships with tourists arrive off Malekuka, the natives focus on Wala and billing.

In those days, we were exploring the island of Malekula and its ex-cannibalism.

The guide that guided us on the island comes up with a conversation that we should visit his Wala, which was just 15 minutes by boat from Rose Bay, the village where we were based. "This weekend, that's where everything happens!" alert us. Even without realizing neither how nor why, who were we to doubt.

George gives us little more than a dozen minutes: “Boys, I know your legs must still burn but the market has been there for quite some time. Before long, they start arranging everything”.

We left the inn and went back to the march. We follow the guide along paths along the edge of the jungle and villages. We cross improvised petanque fields where some teenagers follow the judicious roll of their spheres.

Finally, we reached a small anchorage where the boatman who ensured travel between Malekula and Wala was waiting for more passengers.

Vanuatu, Cruise to Wala, Goods

Natives with their large bags of products that they take to the market in Wala, Vanuatu.

Wow. A Sample of the Island that Conquered the Cruises

Wala is just a sample of an island. By some coincidence of fate, it happened to be on the route of the large cruise ships that depart from the largest cities in Australia and New Zealand heading east.

The routes of these authentic floating cities lead passengers to disembark in Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, in Apia and Pago Pago, capitals of the two Samoas, still in places of Tonga, Fiji and other South Pacific nation-archipelagos.

In Vanuatu, passengers are also required to disembark in such a Champagne BayAt Espiritu Santo island.

It is one of the truly divine beaches in the country. Several tourism companies have already offered millions to their secular owner to build infrastructure to welcome their clients there.

Fortunately, older Ni-Vanuatu continue to respect the ultimate love of generational land tenure. Offers are rejected one after the other.

Something similar but, in its own way, also different, happens with Wala. At Champagne Bay, the owner or family members remain at the entrance of those arriving by land and charge their own tickets.

The same happens when the boats and boats of cruise ships disembark hundreds of passengers eager to escape aboard and bathe in the irresistible waters of the Pacific.

The inhabitants of Wala and the mother island Malekula, however, continue to complain that they have never seen any benefit from the fees paid by companies to the government of Vanuatu to be able to dock off the island.

There are frequent reports in Australian publications that address the issue and question why the nation's politicians live in luxury when the populations of the target places have no idea how to add up the benefits generated by cruise visits.

The Ethnic-Cultural Dazzle by the Ni-Vanuatu People

While waiting for an answer, they do what they can to profit from direct contact with passengers. These, in turn, see us as authentic anthropological phenomena, human specimens, as they thought they no longer existed.

A few ni-vanuatu from Wala are already on the island, they just have to install their stalls or the like. Others hail from tribal villages in the lush, stewed reaches of Malekula.

Vanuatu, Cruise at Wala, Rain Islands

Mist hangs over small islets around Malekula, Vanuatu.

Gradually they reach the vicinity of Walarano, a traditional community on the northeast coast of Malekula near Wala.

There, as George instructed us to do, they board small boats that carry out permanent shuttles between the two islands. As a matter of fact, when we make the crossing to the final destination, we have the company of several of them who watch us, intrigued by following that route, as a rule, not used by foreigners.

Vanuatu, Wala Cruise, Yellow Generations

Father and blond son by the waterfront of Wala, Vanuatu.

The boatman gives the departure signal well before the crowd is full. As the vessel skirts a recess in the island, the view opens onto an inlet from which a gigantic cruise ship stands out.

Unexpected in Vanuatu's civilizational panorama, the vision affects us like a mirage we are forced to believe.

"Now they come here almost every week!" advances George satisfied. “Malekula's staff organize themselves to receive them …” he completes using the popular gesture of money. "You are understanding me, aren't you?"

Shortly after confirming it, we disembarked. The afternoon remains gray and damp. From time to time, a small warm rain falls and wets the coral sand and saturates the rainforest.

Tour of the Wala Seaside Fair

“Come here first! “summons us George and diverts us from the sand to internal paths that are more than wet, muddy. “They here exhibit traditional dances for outsiders to enjoy. If we hurry, I'll get them to show you some.” We walked a few hundred meters.

We came to a long avenue open in the jungle, unobstructed but which, even so, the highest branches of the neighboring trees hurried to cover. There we found a group of natives not very formally dressed for the small outdoor shows that the guide had told us about.

Vanuatu, Cruise to Wala, women in kastom costumes

Child watches a group of native women as they pose for the photograph.

Women covered in huge bead necklaces and other vegetable adornments hold large plant leaves and bunches of smaller ones. George introduces us in the ceremonious way that culture kastom ni-vanuatu requires.

A Bathing Exhibition of Kastom ni- Vanuatu Culture

Although already somewhat uncomfortable due to the somewhat lower temperature than it was felt, the women agreed to give us a final dance. They are prepared to match and, at the sign of an older one, they carry out a graceful undulating choreography that symbolized the importance of their skills in the tribe.

Vanuatu, Cruise in Wala, Women

Native women in a muddy clearing near the fair.

A few meters away, George announces our presence again, this time to a clan of young warriors armed with wooden paddles painted with motifs of the tribe to which they belong. They too surrender to positions so often rehearsed.

Standing, they pretend to paddle aboard a canoe and move the paddles accordingly, gestures that accompany with warrior chants.

Big Nambas vs Small Nambas

An elderly couple appears out of nowhere. George receives them with special reverence. “They've been Big Nambas chiefs (tribes in which men use larger penis coverings, as opposed to Small Nambas) for a long time.

Vanuatu, Malekula Cruise, Chiefs

Malekula-Wala Tribal Chiefs

They are the ones who grant the final permission for all this.” We salute your excellencies who hardly speak English. George sums up our mission and what set us apart from cruise visitors. He greets them again and announces that we are going to take a look at the fair.

The chiefs smile in apparent approval as we return to the sand in comfortable diplomatic harmony.

The cruise resists, anchored on the way out to the great Pacific. With the time to remain there, some of its passengers on land photograph natives with visible anxiety.

Vanuatu, Wala Cruise, Vanuatu Teddy Bear

Woman holds child in plush teddy bear costume.

We zigzagged between them and the natives' stalls. We found a little of everything at that strange seaside fair: handicrafts, national beer and barbecues, tropical fruit ready to eat and the long-awaited kava, the traditional drink of Melanesia.

George remembers to officiate our welcome to Wala.

Vanuatu's Inescapable Welcome Ritual: Kava

It takes us to the resident drink tavern, identified as throughout the archipelago by a SerSer sign. The bartender on duty appears wearing very dark glasses, either already inebriated by his own product or by a mere aesthetic option.

Vanuatu, Cruise in Wala, Bar Ser Ser

The market stall is in charge of giving a taste of kava (the traditional drink of the Melanesian and Vanuatu nations) to ferry passengers.

Anyway, he serves us and George the kava in halves of small coconuts. George shortens the welcome procedures for foreigners, customary in Vanuatu, as in Fiji and other parts of Melanesia.

We pour the drink down and shiver with the bitterness of its crushed roots.

It would only be the first of other bad faces that he would provoke us during the long tour of those parts.

Recently, the most profitable offer at the fair seemed to be cultural. Its different modalities were a little everywhere. A woman surrounded by onlookers was scribbling geometric graphics in the sand at great speed.

Vanuatu, Cruise in Wala, Bathing art

Woman present at the Wala fair giza geometric designs on the island's sand.

Another, carried out mystical predictions of the future.

Still another displayed a fruit bat hanging from a branch with only one leg, carefully wrapped – another leg included – inside its membranous wings as it captured the action around it on its small cerebral radar.

Several other attractions followed, in such abundance that it kept cruise passengers fascinated and delighted. Thus, they freed themselves from the monotony of navigation.

At the same time, they fed the fragile local economy.

The Hut Bank Installed to Convert Foreign Currency into Vatus

When they finished selling their products and services, merchants from Malekula and Wala – who accepted as much Australian, New Zealand and American dollars as euros – immediately converted the profits of the day.

They did so at the rate at which a line lined up in front of the local “National Bank, Vanuatu's Own Bank” thus versed the yellow sign that marked it. In more than four decades of life, we had never seen a queue that was neither so compressed nor so bright.

Vanuatu, Wala Cruise, National Bank

Natives line up to exchange dollars left by Australian, New Zealand and other visitors for vatus, the currency of Vanuatu.

Even if unnecessary, the squeeze did not seem to bother the customers who were waiting glued together, glued to the neighbors in front. Women, in particular, did so in dresses of the most vivid colors and patterns imaginable.

The target of their wait was the bank hut that allowed them to exchange the foreign currency for vatus, the much more familiar official currency of Vanuatu.

With the culmination of dusk, the meteorological influence of the sun behind the clouds weakened and the rain returned to take over the whole scene.

Vanuatu, Cruise in Wala

Inhabitants of Malekula and other surrounding islands leave Wala with the cruise in the background.

When we returned to Rose Bay, we still saw many of the participants making crossings further afield, piled up in small boats on the pine cone.

Wala's visitors disappeared inside the cruise. The cruise soon disappeared into the far horizon of the South Pacific.

Viti levu, Fiji

Cannibalism and Hair, Fiji Islands' Old Pastimes

For 2500 years, anthropophagy has been part of everyday life in Fiji. In more recent centuries, the practice has been adorned by a fascinating hair cult. Luckily, only vestiges of the latest fashion remain.
Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

Divine Melanesia

Pedro Fernandes de Queirós thought he had discovered Terra Australis. The colony he proposed never materialized. Today, Espiritu Santo, the largest island in Vanuatu, is a kind of Eden.
Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

The Mysterious Blue Holes of Espiritu Santo

Humanity recently rejoiced with the first photograph of a black hole. In response, we decided to celebrate the best we have here on Earth. This article is dedicated to blue holes from one of Vanuatu's blessed islands.
Tanna, Vanuatu

From where Vanuatu Conquered the Western World

The TV show “Meet the Native” took Tanna's tribal representatives to visit Britain and the USA Visiting their island, we realized why nothing excited them more than returning home.
Pentecost Island, Vanuatu

Pentecost Naghol: Bungee Jumping for Real Men

In 1995, the people of Pentecostes threatened to sue extreme sports companies for stealing the Naghol ritual. In terms of audacity, the elastic imitation falls far short of the original.
Efate, Vanuatu

The Island That Survived "Survivor"

Much of Vanuatu lives in a blessed post-savage state. Maybe for this, reality shows in which aspirants compete Robinson Crusoes they settled one after the other on their most accessible and notorious island. Already somewhat stunned by the phenomenon of conventional tourism, Efate also had to resist them.
Pentecost Island, Vanuatu

Naghol: Bungee Jumping without Modern Touches

At Pentecost, in their late teens, young people launch themselves from a tower with only lianas tied to their ankles. Bungee cords and harnesses are inappropriate fussiness from initiation to adulthood.
Markets

A Market Economy

The law of supply and demand dictates their proliferation. Generic or specific, covered or open air, these spaces dedicated to buying, selling and exchanging are expressions of life and financial health.
Enxame Mozambique

Mozambican Fashion Service Area

It is repeated at almost all stops in towns of Mozambique worthy of appearing on maps. The machimbombo (bus) stops and is surrounded by a crowd of eager "businessmen". The products offered can be universal such as water or biscuits or typical of the area. In this region, a few kilometers from Nampula, fruit sales suceeded, in each and every case, quite intense.
Grande Terre, New Caledonia

South Pacific Great Boulder

James Cook thus named distant New Caledonia because it reminded him of his father's Scotland, whereas the French settlers were less romantic. Endowed with one of the largest nickel reserves in the world, they named Le Caillou the mother island of the archipelago. Not even its mining prevents it from being one of the most dazzling patches of Earth in Oceania.
Île-des-Pins, New Caledonia

The Island that Leaned against Paradise

In 1964, Katsura Morimura delighted the Japan with a turquoise novel set in Ouvéa. But the neighboring Île-des-Pins has taken over the title "The Nearest Island to Paradise" and thrills its visitors.
LifouLoyalty Islands

The Greatest of the Loyalties

Lifou is the island in the middle of the three that make up the semi-francophone archipelago off New Caledonia. In time, the Kanak natives will decide if they want their paradise independent of the distant metropolis.
Serengeti, Great Savannah Migration, Tanzania, wildebeest on river
Safari
Serengeti NP, Tanzania

The Great Migration of the Endless Savanna

In these prairies that the Masai people say syringet (run forever), millions of wildebeests and other herbivores chase the rains. For predators, their arrival and that of the monsoon are the same salvation.
Muktinath to Kagbeni, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, Kagbeni
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit 14th - Muktinath to Kagbeni, Nepal

On the Other Side of the Pass

After the demanding crossing of Thorong La, we recover in the cozy village of Muktinath. The next morning we proceed back to lower altitudes. On the way to the ancient kingdom of Upper Mustang and the village of Kagbeni that serves as its gateway.
Architecture & Design
napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s – Old-Fashioned Car Tour

In a city rebuilt in Art Deco and with an atmosphere of the "crazy years" and beyond, the adequate means of transportation are the elegant classic automobiles of that era. In Napier, they are everywhere.
Salto Angel, Rio that falls from the sky, Angel Falls, PN Canaima, Venezuela
Adventure
PN Canaima, Venezuela

Kerepakupai, Salto Angel: The River that Falls from Heaven

In 1937, Jimmy Angel landed a light aircraft on a plateau lost in the Venezuelan jungle. The American adventurer did not find gold but he conquered the baptism of the longest waterfall on the face of the Earth
Correspondence verification
Ceremonies and Festivities
Rovaniemi, Finland

From the Finnish Lapland to the Arctic. A Visit to the Land of Santa

Fed up with waiting for the bearded old man to descend down the chimney, we reverse the story. We took advantage of a trip to Finnish Lapland and passed through its furtive home.
Homer, Alaska, Kachemak Bay
Cities
Anchorage to Homer, USA

Journey to the End of the Alaskan Road

If Anchorage became the great city of the 49th US state, Homer, 350km away, is its most famous dead end. Veterans of these parts consider this strange tongue of land sacred ground. They also venerate the fact that, from there, they cannot continue anywhere.
Meal
World Food

Gastronomy Without Borders or Prejudice

Each people, their recipes and delicacies. In certain cases, the same ones that delight entire nations repel many others. For those who travel the world, the most important ingredient is a very open mind.
Busy intersection of Tokyo, Japan
Culture
Tokyo, Japan

The Endless Night of the Rising Sun Capital

Say that Tokyo do not sleep is an understatement. In one of the largest and most sophisticated cities on the face of the Earth, twilight marks only the renewal of the frenetic daily life. And there are millions of souls that either find no place in the sun, or make more sense in the “dark” and obscure turns that follow.
Swimming, Western Australia, Aussie Style, Sun rising in the eyes
Sport
Busselton, Australia

2000 meters in Aussie Style

In 1853, Busselton was equipped with one of the longest pontoons in the world. World. When the structure collapsed, the residents decided to turn the problem around. Since 1996 they have been doing it every year. Swimming.
Hikers on the Ice Lake Trail, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Traveling
Annapurna Circuit: 7th - Braga - Ice Lake, Nepal

Annapurna Circuit – The Painful Acclimatization of the Ice Lake

On the way up to the Ghyaru village, we had a first and unexpected show of how ecstatic the Annapurna Circuit can be tasted. Nine kilometers later, in Braga, due to the need to acclimatize, we climbed from 3.470m from Braga to 4.600m from Lake Kicho Tal. We only felt some expected tiredness and the increase in the wonder of the Annapurna Mountains.
little subject
Ethnic

Hampi, India

Voyage to the Ancient Kingdom of Bisnaga

In 1565, the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar succumbed to enemy attacks. 45 years before, he had already been the victim of the Portugueseization of his name by two Portuguese adventurers who revealed him to the West.

Rainbow in the Grand Canyon, an example of prodigious photographic light
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 1)

And Light was made on Earth. Know how to use it.

The theme of light in photography is inexhaustible. In this article, we give you some basic notions about your behavior, to start with, just and only in terms of geolocation, the time of day and the time of year.
Manaus Theater, Brazil
History
manaus, Brazil

The Jumps and Starts of the former World Rubber Capital

From 1879 to 1912, only the Amazon River basin generated the latex that, from one moment to another, the world needed and, out of nowhere, Manaus became one of the most advanced cities on the face of the Earth. But an English explorer took the tree to Southeast Asia and ruined pioneer production. Manaus once again proved its elasticity. It is the largest city in the Amazon and the seventh in Brazil.
Bubaque, Bijagós, Guinea Bissau, mooring
Islands
Bubaque, Bijagós, Guinea Bissau

The Portal of the Bijagós

On the political level, Bolama remains capital. In the heart of the archipelago and in everyday life, Bubaque occupies this place. This town on the namesake island welcomes most visitors. In Bubaque they are enchanted. From Bubaque, many venture towards other Bijagós.
Horses under a snow, Iceland Never Ending Snow Island Fire
Winter White
Husavik a Myvatn, Iceland

Endless Snow on the Island of Fire

When, in mid-May, Iceland already enjoys some sun warmth but the cold and snow persist, the inhabitants give in to an intriguing summer anxiety.
Kukenam reward
Literature
Mount Roraima, Venezuela

Time Travel to the Lost World of Mount Roraima

Persist on top of Mte. Roraima extraterrestrial scenarios that have withstood millions of years of erosion. Conan Doyle created, in "The Lost World", a fiction inspired by the place but never set foot on it.
female and cub, grizzly footsteps, katmai national park, alaska
Nature
PN Katmai, Alaska

In the Footsteps of the Grizzly Man

Timothy Treadwell spent summers on end with the bears of Katmai. Traveling through Alaska, we followed some of its trails, but unlike the species' crazy protector, we never went too far.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso, Brazil, Véu de Noiva waterfall
Natural Parks
Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso, Brazil

In the Burning Heart of South America

It was only in 1909 that the South American geodesic center was established by Cândido Rondon, a Brazilian marshal. Today, it is located in the city of Cuiabá. It has the stunning but overly combustible scenery of Chapada dos Guimarães nearby.
Aswan, Egypt, Nile River meets Black Africa, Elephantine Island
UNESCO World Heritage
Aswan, Egypt

Where the Nile Welcomes the Black Africa

1200km upstream of its delta, the Nile is no longer navigable. The last of the great Egyptian cities marks the fusion between Arab and Nubian territory. Since its origins in Lake Victoria, the river has given life to countless African peoples with dark complexions.
Ooty, Tamil Nadu, Bollywood Scenery, Heartthrob's Eye
Characters
Ooty, India

In Bollywood's Nearly Ideal Setting

The conflict with Pakistan and the threat of terrorism made filming in Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh a drama. In Ooty, we see how this former British colonial station took the lead.
Bather, The Baths, Devil's Bay (The Baths) National Park, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands
Beaches
Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

Virgin Gorda's Divine “Caribbaths”

Discovering the Virgin Islands, we disembark on a tropical and seductive seaside dotted with huge granite boulders. The Baths seem straight out of the Seychelles but they are one of the most exuberant marine scenery in the Caribbean.
Fort São Filipe, Cidade Velha, Santiago Island, Cape Verde
Religion
Cidade Velha, Cape Verde

Cidade Velha: the Ancient of the Tropico-Colonial Cities

It was the first settlement founded by Europeans below the Tropic of Cancer. In crucial times for Portuguese expansion to Africa and South America and for the slave trade that accompanied it, Cidade Velha became a poignant but unavoidable legacy of Cape Verdean origins.

Executives sleep subway seat, sleep, sleep, subway, train, Tokyo, Japan
On Rails
Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo's Hypno-Passengers

Japan is served by millions of executives slaughtered with infernal work rates and sparse vacations. Every minute of respite on the way to work or home serves them for their inemuri, napping in public.
In elevator kimono, Osaka, Japan
Society
Osaka, Japan

In the Company of Mayu

Japanese nightlife is a multi-faceted, multi-billion business. In Osaka, an enigmatic couchsurfing hostess welcomes us, somewhere between the geisha and the luxury escort.
Women with long hair from Huang Luo, Guangxi, China
Daily life
Longsheng, China

Huang Luo: the Chinese Village of the Longest Hairs

In a multi-ethnic region covered with terraced rice paddies, the women of Huang Luo have surrendered to the same hairy obsession. They let the longest hair in the world grow, years on end, to an average length of 170 to 200 cm. Oddly enough, to keep them beautiful and shiny, they only use water and rice.
Jabula Beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
Wildlife
Saint Lucia, South Africa

An Africa as Wild as Zulu

On the eminence of the coast of Mozambique, the province of KwaZulu-Natal is home to an unexpected South Africa. Deserted beaches full of dunes, vast estuarine swamps and hills covered with fog fill this wild land also bathed by the Indian Ocean. It is shared by the subjects of the always proud Zulu nation and one of the most prolific and diverse fauna on the African continent.
Passengers, scenic flights-Southern Alps, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.
PT EN ES FR DE IT