Western Efate’s coast is scattered with pretty islands, including Lelapa, a short boat ride into the inky-blue Pacific. It hosts Vanuatu’s only World Heritage Site: Roi Mata’s Domain, dedicated to an important 17th-century chief who sought to end tribal warfare. Roi Mata’s body is buried on Hat Island, not far from where his 20 mourning wives drank kava before being buried alive.
“His enemies poisoned him, and he died here in this cave,” said Bradl Jimmy, a Lelapa guide. Fels Cave is adorned with rock art depicting whales, birds, and a pig – the last of which is highly symbolic and used in ceremonial feasts and for resolving disputes. I spotted graffiti reading: ‘SMITH JUNE 1943’, etched by an American serviceman stationed here to resist potential Japanese invasion.
Kava is omnipresent. All the islanders grow this plant, which in Latin translates as “intoxicating pepper”. Its root is pulped and strained into a murky liquid. It was once drunk only by chiefs but now everybody, at least every man, imbibes it much of the time.
Audrey took me to one of Port Vila’s many kava bars. Unlike Fiji, where it’s highly sociable to pass around coconut shells of kava and laugh, in Vanuatu it’s a quieter, more reflective experience. Vanuatuan kava is pressed green and the most potent in the Pacific region.
Source link : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/oceania/vanuatu-port-vila-island-britain-france-china-oceania-efate/
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Publish date : 2023-10-09 03:00:00
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