Ebook: The South Pacific Islands of Vanuatu

Vanuatu, a cluster of 13 large islands and 80 small ones in the southwest Pacific, 1,300 miles east of Australia, has had a kaleidoscopic past. Formerly known as the New Hebrides, it was administered as a British-French Condominium, referred to as "pandemonium" and the events surrounding independence in 1980 had Gilbert and Sullivan qualities. Then there are the languages they speak: French, English, 105 indigenous tongues, and the wonderful common language, Bislama. The islands of Vanuatu, formerly called the New Hebrides, stretch in a north-south direction for 500 miles, and have a land mass of 6,500 square miles. Some of the small islands are coral atolls, the larger ones are volcanic in origin, and the terrain ranges from forest-covered mountains to grassy uplands to tiny reef-enclosed islets. Port Vila on Efate has a population of 15,000 and it's here most of the foreigners live and most of the holiday activities happen. Port Vila may be the prettiest capital town in the...