Vanuatu's first National Park
26 August 2009 | Big Bay
Di & Bernie
After leaving Hog Harbour this morning we headed north to sail to Big Bay on the north eastern tip of Espiritu Santo. As the name suggests it is certainly a large, wide bay with good protection from the SE-E winds. It is also the area of Vanuatu's first National Park referred to as the Vatthe Conservation Area. In 1996 the landowners (two tribes) made a choice to stop logging the area and develop it from a conservation perspective. Apparently a guest house has been built to encourage Eco tourism and provide the villages with income. Once again,we can see no dug out canoes on the beach just a few boats with outboard engines, so the villagers are obviously a little better off here. Having said that we did get a visit from three children late in the day paddling their rather tired family dugout canoe. They said we could get fruit and vegetables at the village, so we'll head in there tomorrow, pay our respects to Solomon the chief and see if we can trade something for some their fresh produce. Tomorrow we also plan to have a look at the forests they have preserved in a National park.