Ambae, the original Bali Hai
Ambae inspired James Michener's mysterious island of Bali Hai in his book Tales of the South Pacific. The island is a large semi-active shield volcano rising to 1496m above sea level. It's Vanuatu's second highest island with crater lakes on the summit and cloud forests on the upper slopes. East Ambae is wet and the west is a rain-shadow area. Ambae is an excellent place for hiking and walking, good for birdwatching and there are some secluded beaches. Access and facilities are improving and a few intrepid volcano tourists are travelling to the unique volcano of Ambae.

Ambae's west and northeast are densely populated. Elsewhere there are few villages. The centre for PENAMA province is at Saratamata in the northeast. Ambae's economy is based on agriculture. Ambae is famous for its aelan taro and melo-melo kava. Other products are cocoa and copra.

Not many tourists visit Ambae even though it's close to Santo with frequent and inexpensive transport links. It's actually cheaper to fly to Walaha from Luganville than to charter road transport to northeast Santo. There's a new international airport terminal at Santo's Pekoa Airport and hopes to draw tourists from Santo to Ambae when and if international flights to Santo commence. New bungalows are planned for Devil's Rock and Nangweangwea and a guesthouse at Lolopuepue.

Ambae has three airfields so it's easy to visit only one part of the island. If you want to spend more time and see more of Ambae then you can use an 'open-jaw' air ticket and travel between Walaha and Longana by land. There's a walking track north of Ambore village that connects west and north Ambae. Walking Ambae.

Bungalows
We feature the following places:

Devil's Rock Camping, Devil's Rock
Duviara Guesthouse, Duviara Conservation Area, Ambanga
Lolowai Transit House, Lolowai
Rose and Jeffry's Paradise Garden House, Ambore
Toa Guesthouse, Ndui Ndui

In the more densely populated areas of Ambae there are several local standard guesthouses, often owned by the church or community. These are not promoted to tourists and we haven't visited them all. If you're waiting for a ship at Lolopuepue then ask to see Pascal, he is planning to build a guesthouse.

News, September 2005: A guesthouse is reported to be nearing completion at Nangweangwea village so hiking to the crater lakes from west Ambae should soon be more practical.

Air Transport
Ambae has three airstrips. The table below summarises services (March 2007) and fares (May 2006). Ambae has lots of flights so check the latest Air Vanuatu domestic schedule carefully. Tourists holding an international Air Vanuatu ticket are entitled to a 20% discount on VANAIR fares. Exchange Rates.

Sea Transport
There are one or two ships per week between Luganville and Ambae. In November 2004 a one way fare was 1500 Vatu to west Ambae or 2000 Vatu to the northeast. Exchange Rates. The crossing takes three to four hours but more than half a day can be spent servicing the villages around the island. Most of these ships pass by Ambae on the Port Vila-Luganville route and stop at most places on the northeast and west of the island.

The Simonsen Wharf (past the main wharf on the road towards the airport) is a good place to find ships for Ambae. It's also a good idea asking someone from Ambae in Luganville. Note these are cargo boats with poor facilities for passengers. One exception is the L/C Sarafenua which has a lounge (and no clear spaces to lay down!).

On Ambae, good places to find ships are Ndui Ndui in the west and Lolopuepue in the north. Lolowai is not so good because ships may arrive unexpectedly and stop outside the harbour where you may not notice them. It can also be difficult to get reliable information about ships at Lolowai.

Road Transport
Ambae has extensive road networks in the west and northeast but the rugged coastline prevents a complete round-island road. Some truck fares are listed below. Exchange Rates.

Last updated: March 2006 by Stephen.