Page 36 - IB October 2021

Travel Travel

VISITING GENTLE YASUR

By Len Garae man shot up the path ahead of all of us!
Photos by Kersom Richard Suddenly the ground started to rumble, shake and heave.
Our camera man froze in his tracks then quickly turned to-
The closure of borders has seen many Pacific islanders ex- wards us, camera on his shoulder and head bowed, hurriedly
plore their own backyards. walked in silence back to the parking lot below where he
For more than one hundred of Vanuatu’s senior public started shooting water lilies growing on Lake Siwi (when the
servants, this year’s National Week of Agriculture at Laminu body of water was still there).
Sports Stadium on the suburbs of Blackman Town on Tanna On our descent, we met him, and he said “Look, beautiful
Island, provided a golden opportunity for them to climb to the flowers.” Back at our Whitegrass Hotel, I asked the transla-
summit of the crater of Yasur Volcano – the gentlest volcano in tor to tell me what that was all about, and she admitted that
the world! their camera man was scared.
While I have climbed the brown moonscape-like, windswept The Yasur Volcano has been a main reason for Tanna Island’s
slopes before, for most of these local tourists in the current economic success story in the last 41 years. You can post a
global COVID-19 lockdown, it was an experience of a life- post card to friends back home from the summit.
time to feel the belly-rolling, intestine-gurgling Yasur, as it With the current international lockdown, international
breathes its volcanic life through the earth under their feet, tourists have stopped coming. But the impact of the island’s
assuring every visitor that it is alive and well. economic success means that along its Chinese-built tar-
Brave visitors were able to peer into a quarter-of-a-kilo- sealed street from Whitegrass International Airport through
metre-wide smoking, churning pool of red lava, as it spurted Blackman Town, sizable concrete buildings are springing up on
liquid ash to just below the gaping crater. both sides of the road.
But for some visitors from abroad who had travelled thou- A new restaurant on the right side of the road leading to the
sands of kilometres to view the phenomenon up until CO- Provincial Government Seat at Isangel, serving hot egg sand-
VID-19 lockdown, just feeling the ground shaking under their wiches complete with slices of juicy fresh tomato and lettuce
feet at the foot of the crater, was enough to convince them to leaf, was a popular stop for visitors from Port Vila during the
remain at the bottom of the Yasur Volcano climb. recent National Week of Agriculture.
I once led a Japanese media team from Okinawa Prefec- One visitor remarked, “Even though I live in Port Vila, the
ture, complete with television camera man and print journal- taste in my mouth of the egg sandwich of hot bread is still
ists to the volcano. with me!”
Our instructions from our Tannese tour operator were clear. In fact the business also has a restaurant, a chicken and
“Please all of you follow me and stay behind me at all times chips counter, a retail store and a bakery. The owner used to
as we proceed up the slope towards the crater,” he said in his work in Noumea, New Caledonia, then returned home with his
briefing. savings and built his business.
Blame it on communication barrier perhaps, but the camera Vanuatu readers, until the lockdown is lifted, Yasur Volcano
is a wonderful experience that the island the world can’t wait
to visit. For the rest of the Pacific, it’s a trip to put on your
bucket list!

editor@islandsbusiness.com

36 Islands Business, October 2021