Mount Garet Volcano and Lake Letas, Gaua, Banks Islands, Vanuatu
Mount Garet Volcano, Gaua, Banks Islands, Vanuatu
Lake Letas sunset, Gaua, Banks Islands, Vanuatu
Awesome Siri Waterfall, Gaua, Banks Islands, Vanuatu
Siri River, Gaua, Banks Islands, Vanuatu
Mere Lava viewed from Gaua, Banks Islands, Vanuatu
Stanley Reginald Bungalows, Gaua, Banks Islands, Vanuatu
Japanese grave, Namasari, Gaua, Banks Islands, Vanuatu
Siri Waterfall from a distance, Gaua, Banks Islands, Vanuatu
Parvet Beach, Gaua, Banks Islands, Vanuatu
Mbe Solomul River downstream, Gaua, Banks Islands, Vanuatu
Merig and Mere Lava viewed from Kaska Bay, Gaua, Banks Islands, Vanuatu
 Click here for Walking Gaua Click here for Wongras Bungalows Click here for Sam's Bungalow

Gaua, fine Vanuatu walking in the Banks Islands
Gaua's scenic centre is an awesome place for bush walking, featuring:
- Lake Letas, the largest in Vanuatu.
- Mount Garet, an active volcano.
- Siri Waterfall, a truly impressive sight with a large flow out of Lake Letas falling down 120m. The most spectacular in Vanuatu.

Trekking to Lake Letas and camping overnight is one of the highlight walking adventures on our Itinerary Ideas page. There have been no catastrophic eruptions from the Mount Garet Volcano for a long time so the interior has plenty of forest cover and is not desolate as one might expect. There is an initiative to establish a formal conservation area around Mt Garet and Lake Letas. Bird watching is good in the interior.

Along the coast, there are few beaches but extensive reefs with sheltered waters inside. From Lembot you can experience fine views of neighbouring Banks Islands on a clear day.

Just north of Namasari village there was a Japanese farm in World War Two. All that remains are a few graves, a truck engine and some sort of sunken boat near the beach. The Japanese withdrew before the Allied forces came.

Most of Gaua's population lives in the east, scattered along the truck road that run's from Lemoga to the Mbe Solomul River. There are small villages and small holder coconut plantations all about. Many of the Ni-Vanuatu you will meet around East Gaua are recent settlers, mostly from Mere Lava and Merig islands where land is in short supply.

Gaua is not far from Santo and relatively easy and inexpensive to visit. The easiest way to get there is to buy a return Air Vanuatu ticket. A more economical strategy is to make use of ships on one or both legs of the journey. Gaua is usually the first and last port of call for voyages to the Banks and Torres. The voyage is not long although you may be travelling in the night and there's no time table for departures.

Bungalows
Despite the walk many rather ordinary tourists visit Mount Garet each year. Most (all) of them stay at Wongras Bungalows which rather has a monopoly on tourism but there are other possibilities and it's only a matter of time before genuine competition starts up. In May 2004 there were two choices:

Sam's Bungalow, Kaska Bay
Wongras Bungalows, near the airport

Stanley Reginald has three bungalows by the Mbe Solomul River about one and a half hours walk south of the airport. The place looked abandoned in May 2004 but Stanley said he plans to open/reopen. On the other hand he seems to prefer politics (he once reached as high as Deputy Prime Minister but was not elected in the 2004 vote).

Transport
Air Vanuatu now flies to Gaua on three days a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday (March 2007). An adult return fare to Gaua is 40025 Vatu from Port Vila or 19280 Vatu from Santo (May 2006). Tourists with a return Air Vanuatu ticket are entitled to a 20% discount. The airport is less than 5 minutes walk from Wongras Bungalows. When leaving, plan to be at the airport early. What happens is the pilot radios ahead from Santo and may decide to change the routing. Exchange Rates.

There's usually at least one ship a month to the Banks Islands from Santo. A few ships that service the Banks and Torres Islands are:
- M/V Keidei (enquire at Lo Chan Moon store, Santo, phone 36530). This ship usually sails Santo-Ambae-Maewo-Mere Lava-Gaua on the outward leg and returns directly Gaua-Santo on the return leg. It routinely visits Vanua Lava, less frequently visits Mota Lava and sometimes goes far north to the Torres Islands.
- M/V Havutu (enquire at Wong Sze Sing store, Santo). This ship is more direct, sailing Santo-Gaua-Banks and returning Gaua-Santo. It's another reliable ship for the Banks and Torres.

Note the routing of these ships depends on the cargo and copra. If there's no cargo manifested for an island and there's no copra to pick up (often the case for the Torres Islands) then obviously the ship will not visit that island. Also, copra boats routinely circumnavigate Gaua and Vanua Lava to pick up copra from all the landings. All this cargo to offload and copra to pick up at many small landings takes time and it often takes days to reach the outer islands. Travelling by ship to the outer islands is cheap but can be very inefficient. It's best to use them only for shorter and direct journeys.

There was a truck on Gaua in May 2004 which belonged to the Co-op at Kaska Bay. You can hop on when you see it passing in your direction and get a ride for a few hundred Vatu.

Services
There's one health centre on Gaua near Namasari village. There are basic stores all about, two which appear to be well stocked are the stores at Tolo village (pronounce 'Too-loo') and Kaska Bay (the Co-op store). Telephones are scarce. There's one at the airport (38514) but the system was down in May 2004. There's another one at Aworu, about two hours walk to the south. The clinic and some schools have solar panels but not all have inverters. There are a few private generators here and there.

Last Updated: March 2006 by Stephen

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