V&T Daily
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blue lagoon
Published in the January-March 2010 issue.
Lee Mylne cruises through the beautiful Solomon Islands to experience its friendly locals, intriguing culture
and stunning landscapes.
Smiling faces and lively kids, clamouring to be the focus of tourists’ cameras, greet our arrival on Marovo Island. From the crowd emerges a shyly smiling, sweet-faced septuagenarian who will take us on a tour of her village. Sila Ghiboto is the granddaughter of the last of the Solomon Islands’ headhunters, and her tours explain the traditions and history of her people.
As we walk through her village, Sila describes, through her youthful interpreter, tribal life a century ago, when ritual sacrifice and cannibalism were used to ‘feed’ ancestral gods. At that time, there were just 300 people in Oluvutu – primarily, it was young women from other villages who were captured and sacrificed. We wander through Sila’s village, stopping at the stone remnants of an earth oven that would be used for human sacrifices, then moving on to look at a stone altar and tribal graves with the teeth and skulls of the buried still visible.
We are in the heart of the New Georgia Islands. The principal attraction here is Marovo Lagoon, once described by American writer James A. Michener as the eighth wonder of the world. The dramatically beautiful islands of the lagoon are dotted with villages, home to around 12,000 people. Around them lie coral reefs, on which we dive and snorkel and marvel at the intensely colourful fish and corals.
Sadly, logging over the past few decades has diminished the islands’ beauty and robbed the lagoon of World Heritage listing, proposed some years ago but rejected by UNESCO when the Solomons government allowed logging to continue. Preserving the reefs is a topic about which the islanders are keen to talk. Gillis Palmer, from Mbareho village on New Georgia Island, tells me conservation, education and eco-tourism are of great importance to the islanders.
“We want to upgrade our tourism and encourage people to stay in the villages and to build eco-lodges,” he says. The Marovo Lagoon Eco-Tourism Association, which aims to teach villagers about conservation, has nearly 20 members from various villages and has initiated a five-year Marine Protected Areas project where there is no fishing, no coral mining, and no marine harvesting of species.
“Already we are seeing a return of fish and coral that was not there before. It is a five-year project that we hope will extend to the area being permanently protected. Saving our resources will benefit our children in years to come,” he asserts, adding that visitors from other countries are welcome for the ideas they bring with them to the islands.
On Uepi Island, we visit a carvers’ market next to the lagoon’s sole resort. Carvings here are intricate creations in ebony, rosewood and coconut wood. Master carver Gary Ghusa, from Cheke village on Vanganu Island, has been carving “since I could hold the tools” and is now teaching his own three sons. Gary is one of a number of carvers from around the islands who come to Uepi once a week to sell their work to tourists. “Everyone in the villages learns to carve,” he says. “The boys learn to carve and the girls learn to weave baskets, starting when they are about seven years old.”
On Ngella Island, just 35 kilometres from the capital, Honiara, we are awestruck by the sight of the rusting wreck of the once-luxurious cruise liner World Discoverer, lying beached on the shore.
Our ship, Orion, is uncannily similar to the ill-fated World Discoverer. But while Orion is full of life, World Discoverer is an empty shell, anything of value stripped from it long ago, The only splashes of green are ferns sprouting from cracks in its hull.
Shipwrecks are a common feature in the waters of the Solomons. Iron Bottom Sound, stretching between Honiara and the Ngella Islands, is named for the several World War II vessels sunk here in 1942 and 1943. World Discoverer, with 99 passengers aboard, was deliberately run aground by her captain at Roderick Bay in 2001, as he tried to avoid sinking after hitting a reef in the northern end of Sandfly Passage.
The villagers of Ngella Island wasted no time in taking advantage of the bounty that landed on their doorstep. Once all the passengers had disembarked safely, the ship’s furniture and fittings were up for grabs – and they’ve been well used. One village house stands out from the others with its full-length glass sliding doors. Inside, large stainless-steel cooking pots and other kitchenware are in evidence, as are deck chairs and armchairs from the once-glamorous lounge.
As we reach the beach, whooping young warriors rush across it and into our comfort zone. Shouting and waving soon turn to wide smiles all round as we react to the mock attack. We come as friends, as do these young Solomon Islanders. We’re welcomed to the shipwreck site by song and dance, as is traditional in these islands, but at each place the performances are different.
At Ngella, the music is upbeat and modern with an almost reggae feel to it. A young woman wears a Bob Marley T-shirt. There’s a sense that maybe things aren’t always as traditional as some of the dancing we’ve seen. After a set that has several members of the audience on their feet, dancing, singer-songwriter Peter Ake tells me he’s hoping to have his first CD out soon.
On Santa Ana Island, two ‘tribes’ of mud men – one black, one ochre – re-enact a local legend with fierce animosity, then walk away congratulating each other.
Everywhere I go in the Solomons, there is a feeling that I’m somewhere languidly unspoiled and far removed from everyday banalities. The sight of a couple of children swinging in a hammock slung between trees at the edge of a lagoon kindles a strong desire to linger for longer than my travel plans allow. I’ve had just a glimpse of the Solomon Islands, but it’s enough to leave me wanting more. •
Photography by Len Zell and Lee Mylne.
TRAVEL FACTS
getting there
getting around
- Orion Expedition Cruises visits the Solomon Islands as part of its ‘Melanesian Discovery’ cruise, departing from Auckland and also sailing to New Caledonia and Vanuatu before ending at Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. In the Solomons, the cruise makes stops in Utupua, Santa Ana, Ngella, Ghizo and Kennedy Islands. Phone 1300 361 012 or 02 9033 8777 or visit www.orionexpeditions.com
where to stay
further information
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