Trip to the Volcano of Tanna Island, Vanuatu: Everything You Need to Know
Last Updated on Sep 24, 2024
One of the most memorable trips for me and the kids was visiting Tanna Island in Vanuatu. While Vanuatu is a popular destination for Australians and Kiwis, especially when coming on a cruise ship, not many venture to other islands of Vanuatu. In fact, most families with children don’t even consider the trip, but I highly recommend it.
While it’s definitely a detour from the regular visit to Vanuatu’s main island of Efate, it’s actually a pretty relaxing trip and much less tough than many seem to portray it. Our kids were 2.5 and 4.5 and both had a blast and didn’t find this trip tough at all. Tanna Island isn’t just for adventure solo travelers and couples!
What’s So Special About Tanna Island in Vanuatu?
Tanna Island is famous for the world’s most accessible active volcano Mount Yasur, but there are many other interesting things about it. While the volcano is what brings the travelers over, there’s also a blue hole cenote, giant banyan trees, and fascinating tribes.
How to Get to Tanna Island
In the past, you had a few options, so when we visited it was just picking up a flight and booking it online. Unfortunately, Air Vanuatu went bankrupt last year, and a private charter got their license suspended – for a few months, there was no option of getting to Vanuatu.
The good news is that getting to Tanna Island is possible again! Even though Air Vanuatu isn’t operating officially anymore, they resumed domestic flights thanks
Air Vanuatu flies Port Vila to Tanna 5 days per week with their ATR aircraft. With the graduated reopening of domestic services, flights can be ticketed two weeks before travel via:
- email [email protected]
- phone +768 23838
- visiting Air Vanuatu offices in Port Vila, Santo and Tanna.
Another option is booking a charter plane from Air Taxi for 260.000,00 VUV (each way).
Where to Stay in Tanna Island
As the island is very remote, accommodation is very limited. There’s one town that’s more like a remote outpost than a town or village. There are only 3 resorts/hotels on Tanna Island, all of them are pretty much next to each other on the coast and by the airport.
From the airport and these resorts, it takes about 2 hours to get to Mount Yasur and you need to also get back, so some people opt for staying in a local treehouse near the volcano for one night. The facilities are incredibly basic and there’s often no electricity or signal there, so it’s something to consider. For us, traveling with small children, I didn’t think it was a good idea.
As Tanna is so remote I met people who arrived at their prebooked treehouse only to find out that the place didn’t exist, or something was double booked and they had to find a local house on a whim.
While Tanna Evergreen Resort is the nicest one on the island they don’t accept kids. We stayed at Whitegrass Resort in Tanna and I honestly cannot complain about it. It was obviously a simple resort with no AC (it’s not common in Vanuatu and especially not in Tanna), but the restaurant was good, the pool was decent, and we had a good time.
We spent New Year’s Eve there and the staff arranged crab racing for the guests and everyone had a lot of fun.
Mount Yasur: Most Accessible Active Volcano in the World
Mount Yasur has been active for 800 years. Legend claims its lava-infused glowing peak alerted Captain James Cook to the presence of land way back in the day.
We pre-booked the volcano tour through them and booked a village tour for the next day without any issues. As every resort indicated that the tour isn’t recommended for kids under 7 I was slightly worried There was another family with young kids and they experienced no issues either, so I think it truly depends on your own and your kids’ level of adventure.
I specifically planned 2.5 days in Tanna in case we got unlucky with the weather. For example, if it rains on your visit to the volcano or it’s very smoggy you might want to revisit it the next day. Thankfully, we got lucky on our first try.
We left the hotel at 2 PM along with other people. While Tanna is a remote place, there are still visitors, so don’t expect to be alone by the volcano. It was a small group, but still about 25 people from all over the island and some locals.
Some vehicles were open top with limited space inside, but nobody seemed to mind. The kids enjoyed some breeze on the way as it was a nice sunny day. We stopped for a little briefing at the mountain and discovered that the volcano was maintained at level 2 (out of 5, but 3-5 is off-limits to visitors ) which meant it was actively rumbling.
Our guides then parked the jeeps and started marching us up to the volcano just a 5-minute walk up with in-built stairs. Up until 2023 there were no barriers anywhere, but the locals decided to build them for safety so no one comes too close and slips (even though there was never an accident at Mount Yasur). I do feel like it made the place slightly more like a tourist attraction, but it’s still amazing.
The sounds of never-ending explosions which I can best describe as the sound of a bombing scared the kids at first, but they got used to it quickly (here’s a link to my video). We spent about 1.5 hours at the volcano watching the explosions and listening to the sounds as the sun was settling and the cloud of ashes over the crater became more and more red.
I was slightly nervous about the kids, but it was mostly due to my own anxiety. The kids didn’t dare to come close to the barrier unless I was holding their hands. My toddler watched the lava and complained that “volcano is making mess”. Both kids befriended local women and treated the volcano like a sandbox. They dug out some volcanic rocks that they proudly showed to their classmates upon returning home.
On the ride back to the hotel we were offered a private vehicle with inside seats, so the kids could rest as it was dark and windier. Kids rested a bit and it was honestly a very smooth journey. We walked into our hotel straight for dinner under the stars.
Blue Cave
The Blue Cave is a hidden grotto, so you must swim underwater for about 45 seconds to reach it. The local guides will help you do this, even if you cannot swim – they’ll simply push you and pass you along in your lifejacket, don’t worry!
If you have time, I highly recommend visiting, but we had to make a choice between visiting Yakel tribe and Blue Cave due to flight schedules and we opted for the first option.
Banyan Tree
None really knows the age of Tanna’s Giant Banyan Tree, as it was already ancient when Captain Cook landed on the island in 1774. It’s a slight detour to get there, and there are many banyan trees (also big) everywhere on the island, so we skipped it due to the lack of time.
Yakel Tribe
Visiting a village of the Yakel tribe in Vanuatu is honestly a must. Tribes on Tanna Island aren’t like the Masai who live in designated tourist villages, these people actually live the same way you will see. There are no schools, shops, TV or internet, just an unbroken culture spanning back thousands of years.
Only one or two people out of the entire village will speak some English, so you need to pre-arrange your visit as they don’t want to be disturbed all the time.
When we arrived we were greeted by a chief, who to my kids’ surprise wasn’t wearing much of anything. The Yakel don’t really believe in much clothing. The women are bare-chested, only wearing lavalava skirts and the men wear nothing but nambas – a penis sheath. Their village was used in the film, Tanna— the Movie which made the outside world aware of the Yakel people.
The tribe is known as The Prince Philip movement as they worship Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elisabeth II of the United Kingdom. Kastom people around the villages of Yaohnanen and Yakel believe that the Prince is a God, so when they found out about his passing some members of one tribe on the island of Vanuatu declared Charles as the “son of our power” as they celebrated with a portrait of the new king.
Why? They believe the late Duke of Edinburgh was the son of a mountain spirit, after an ancient legend that said the spirit’s son would travel to a distant land to marry a powerful woman before returning home. The belief got stronger after the Duke visited the island in 1974, completely unaware that the tribe worshipped him. Since then he has corresponded with the villages, sending them his photos and even arranged a video conference at some point.
We took a look at how they live, we were shown their “maternity ward” which was specifically designated part of the grass where women gave birth. The villagers shared some taro with us and we got to dance with them.
It was surely an eye-opening meeting for the kids who were curious about why they weren’t wearing any clothes, where the bathroom was (bushes, obviously!), and how they prepared their food. My toddler was particularly interested in greeting everyone and shaking their hands.
