Vanuatu
Vanuatu's showcase 7-min movie presenting the country and the highlights of tourism in the six provinces. This film should give you plenty of reasons to explore the beautiful islands yourself. The blend of traditional culture (Custom or Kastom) and beautiful nature should be irresistible to any visitor!
Vanuatu is located near Australia, New Caledonia, Fiji, Solomons and New Zealand. It is an Independent Republic since 1980. The archipelago consists of around 82 islands. Port Vila, the capital, is located on Efate island. A population of over 250,000 Ni-Vanuatu is spread over the islands in 6 provinces. Unspoiled nature and a traditional native culture of wonderful, happy, south sea islanders make it a fantastic territory to discover.
The SHEFA province consists of: EFATE & the SHEPERDS islands. In this clip you see the sand drawings at the Cultural Center / Museum, the Mele cascades, the Roi Mata cave on Lelepa, the WWII artifacts in Port Havannah, fishing on the way to Nguna and Pele islands, banyan trees, coconuts for drinking, horse-back riding, relaxing on white sand beaches, sailing charter cruises, cruiseship in port, dolphins swimming, snorkeling, underwater post office at Hideaway island, tropical fish & corals, wrecks, dugongs, traditional sailing canoes in Epi, poulet fish, bats, kids in Sunday dress on Lamen island, Epi east coast, Tongariki island paramount chief ordination, Epule River tour, Secret Garden, Ekasup Cultural Village, string band, Vanuatu beef, parasailing, hotels & resorts, wedding ceremonies, lobster dinner, steaks bbq, casinos, cultural and Melanesian feasts.
The TAFEA province consists of: TANNA, ANATOM (ANEITYUM), FUTUNA, ERROMANGO and ANIWA. In this clip you see Mt Yasur volcano, custom dancing, blue cave, waterfalls, White Grass horses, custom cultural villages, fishing, lobstering, basket and mats weaving with pandanus, coconut fronds, white sand beaches, string bands, Dillon's bay, old church, bones, marine park, turtle, Port Resolution, meals.
The MALAMPA province consists of: MALEKULA (MALLICOLO, MALIKULA), AMBRYM and PAAMA islands. In this clip you see marine reserve of clamshells, flowers, waterfalls, caves, skulls & bones, pig tusks, river, making fire, string bands, oysters, Melanesian feast, sand drawings, spirit of the lagoon effigy, custom dancing on Toman island, Small Nambas custom dancing, Big Nambas custom dancing, Nalawan festival in SW bay, Paama weaving, Mt Benbow & Mt Marum, wood carvings, custom magic, flute, breadfruit, cooking, pig killing ceremony, Rom dance, 'Back to my Roots' festival.
The SANMA province consists of: SANTO, MALO and AORE islands. In this clip you see Port Olry beach, cultural villages, custom dancing, scuba diving at Million Dollar Point and on SS Coolidge shipwreck, horseback riding, off road quads, Big bay, banyan, Millenium Cave tour, baskets weaving, aerial views, coconut plantations, cattle, Aore island resorts, tropical reefs, Champagne beach, Matevulu blue hole, oysters, string bands, Melanesian nights, lobsters & coconut crab dinner, local food, sand drawing, Wusi pottery, fire dancing.
The PENAMA province consists of: PENTECOST, AMBAE and MAEWO. In this clip you see cultural village, custom dancing, string bands, lakes & Manaro volcano, Devil's Point, Devil's Rock, snorkeling, grouper, water taro fields, sand drawings, lobster dinner, pandanus & coconut dresses, Moon cave, petroglyphs, waterfalls, waterfall bay, white beaches, Bunlap custom village, bamboo water, kava ceremony, land diving, saut du Gaul.
The TORBA province consists of: BANKS islands (VANUA LAVA, UREPARAPARA, REEF ISLANDS, MOTA LAVA, GAUA, MOTA and MERE LAVA) and TORRES islands (LOH, LINUA, TEGUA, METOMA, HIU and TOGA). In this clip you see Vanua Lava festival, custom dances, dancing stone, wood objects carvings, basket & mats weaving, waterfalls, mag dance, rock paintings, aerial views of Reef islands lagoon, local parrot, small boats inter-islands transport, caves, stalagmites, coconut crabs, trolling fishing, dorado, mahi mahi, surfing, snake dance, sand drawings, local food, sleeper lobsters, artist carving, Siri falls, lake Letas, Mt Garet volcano, watermusic.
Souvenir DVD can be found on vanuatu4you.com
Islanders worship Britain's Prince Philip
(4 May 2017) LEADIN:
Queen Elizabeth II's husband, Prince Philip, will stop carrying out public engagements after August, Buckingham Palace has announced.
On the other side of the world, a group of island villagers worship the 95-year-old prince like a god and believe his spirit will never die.
STORYLINE:
Villagers here have been performing traditional dances like this for generations.
But there's one aspect of their culture that they've adopted more recently.
They worship Prince Philip - the husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.
The former naval officer is known in the UK as a sports enthusiast who's a bit cantankerous at times and prone to saying the wrong thing.
But to several hundred people living in a handful of remote villages on Tanna Island in the tropical Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu, the Duke of Edinburgh is much more.
Here in Tanna, we believe that Prince Philip is the son of our god, our ancestral god, who lives up in the mountain, explains Yakel villager Nako Nikien, who prefers to go by the name Jimmy Joseph.
Standing under his sacred banyan tree, another villager from Yakel - named Albi Nagia - sings as he cracks open a coconut with a few strikes of his bush machete.
He chews the flesh inside and spits it out, to the delight of gathering chickens.
He's offering a daily prayer to Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.
Joseph says it's become a tradition to pray to Philip each evening, when villagers from Yaohnanen and Yakel gather in their meeting places and share an intoxicating brew made from kava plants.
We ask him for the... to increase the production of our crops in the garden, or to give us the sun, or rain. And it happens, he says.
Those prayers became more pressing after Cyclone Pam ripped through Tanna in March 2015, killing at least five on the island of 30,000 and destroying homes and crops.
Both Nagia and Joseph are members of the Prince Philip movement, an unusual cult that developed in a place where people still choose to live as they have for centuries.
Their homes are simple thatch huts and they wear nothing but grass skirts or a penis shield called a 'nambas.'
Known as kastom, it's a traditional way of life that villagers say is under threat from the spread of western civilisation.
When the villagers make the trek to the island's main town to sell coffee beans or buy rice, they usually put on clothes.
In 2007, Nagia and Joseph were among five locals who were flown to England by a British reality show, Meet the Natives.
The five met Philip privately at Windsor Castle.
Yeah it was like, you know, because we believe that he is the son of our god, and meeting him, meeting him is just wonderful, says Joseph.
It's just like being in a place where, or like being in a spiritual world. You know, in 2007, it was the 19th March when I met him in Windsor Castle, which is in northwest of London city.
It's unclear how the movement began.
It appears to have grown in the 1960s as an offshoot or rival to another unusual island movement, the John Frum cargo cult.
That cult began around the 1930s and got a boost when US servicemen were posted to Vanuatu during World War II.
Followers believe the mysterious John Frum will one day return from afar and bring spiritual and material wealth.
Joseph says the John Frum movement grew at a difficult time, as elders tried to cling to traditional beliefs and prophecies, but were mocked and imprisoned for them as Christianity took hold.
The Prince Philip movement got a boost when Philip and the queen visited Vanuatu in 1974 on the royal yacht Britannia, although the prince never actually set foot on Tanna.
Elders later sent Philip a club from Tanna, and he sent them back a photograph showing him holding it.
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