Vanuatu
Ambae
Residents trickle back to an island evacuated for its volcano, its acid crater lake shifting colours.
The volcanic cone rises from the sea draped in jungle so thick it looks unbroken from the air. But higher up, the green gives way to grey — ash fields, displaced gardens, and a crater lake whose surface shifts from dull pewter to vivid green to rust-red depending on the volcano's mood. Ambae is an island still negotiating its relationship with the earth beneath it.
Ambae's Manaro volcano erupted violently in 2017 and again in 2018, forcing the evacuation of the island's entire population of roughly 10,000 people. Communities have since begun returning, rebuilding gardens and guesthouses on an island whose landscape was visibly altered. Lake Voui, the acid crater lake at the summit, changes colour with volcanic activity — no forecast exists for what colour you will find on any given day. The lower slopes hold intact rainforest with large fruit bat colonies that thrived during the years of human absence. Guided walks to the crater are arranged through returning village communities, and accommodation is basic eco-stays with families still re-establishing their routines. Very few visitors reach Ambae in any given year.
Solo
Ambae is for travellers comfortable with uncertainty — the volcano dictates the schedule, the infrastructure is being rebuilt in real time, and you travel as one of very few visitors on an island finding its feet. That rawness is the point.
Friends
The crater trek is a genuine expedition on an island where the landscape has visibly changed within the last decade. Sharing that experience — and the village stays and earth-oven meals with returning communities — creates a trip that feels genuinely rare.
- Lake Voui's surface changes from grey to vivid green to rust-red depending on the volcano's mood — no forecast exists for what you will find.
- The 2017-2018 evacuation left the island's landscape altered — ash fields, displaced garden plots, and paths that no longer connect where they once did.
- Returning communities offer village stays and guided walks to the crater — you travel as one of very few visitors on an island still finding its feet.
- The lower slopes hold intact rainforest with large fruit bat colonies — the island's wildlife thrived in the years of human absence.
Earth-oven feasts of taro, yam, and chicken prepared by returning communities rebuilding their gardens.
Fresh tropical fruit — papaya, starfruit, and soursop — growing wild on an island still recovering from eruption.
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