Tanna Island Vanuatu Lenakel
Vanuatu
1
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Ponant (1 Cruises)
Frequently Asked Questions
Off Lenakel, the main settlement on the west coast. Tenders land passengers at the small landing stage. Pacific swell sometimes lays down the law: schedules can shift and days are best planned loosely.
A permanently active volcano, considered the most accessible in the world, which throws up sprays of lava at regular intervals in front of visitors gathered on the rim. Some passengers come on deck well before dawn to watch for its reddish glow above the island.
By crossing the island in a four-wheel drive, on tracks that climb through forest before opening onto a wind-swept plain of grey ash. Vehicles park below the rim and a short walk leads to the crater edge.
No, it remains controlled by guides and subject to the current level of activity. When the volcano steps up, access is restricted or closed, and no call can guarantee it in advance.
At the end of the day, when the dusk reveals the orange glow of the ejections. Many lines schedule the excursion then; the return, headlights sweeping the plantations in the dark, extends the adventure all the way back to the quay.
Not a great deal: the town amounts to a few streets, a bank and some shops. The market is worth a stop, where women sell taro, bananas, flower garlands and woven baskets straight off the mats. Most of the day plays out elsewhere, on the tracks inland.
Yes. The island lives by kastom, the ancestral code that orders village life, and several communities welcome travellers to present dances, kava preparation and everyday skills. These meetings are arranged with the villages, not improvised.
The vatu, Vanuatu's currency, with Bislama, English and French in conversation. Bring cash in small denominations: outside Lenakel no card payment is possible.
For families with older children, yes. The track to Yasur is long and bumpy, ash irritates the eyes in strong wind, and the crater rim demands close supervision. The spectacle, though, stays in a child's memory for life.
May to October, Vanuatu's dry season: more passable tracks, clearer skies and outside the cyclone period. From November to April rain transforms the inland tracks and complicates the transfer to the volcano.
