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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