Solomon Islands
Laulasi Island
Seven tribes sealed peace with strands of shell money to reopen this hand-built island.
Laulasi rises out of Langa Langa Lagoon on coral its builders carried up by hand, an island made by people and still lived on. In August 2025 its seven owning tribes met on it to make peace, and to invite the world back.
Laulasi was one of the Solomons' best-known cultural destinations in the 1970s, when visitors came for shell money making and the ancestral customs the lagoon still keeps. That era faded, and in August 2025 the island's seven owning tribes held a reconciliation ceremony on Laulasi to relaunch its tourism together, exchanging strands of shell money as the seal, with Malaita's Deputy Premier standing witness. Lagoon tours run from Auki, and when guests last came Laulasi met them with traditional dance, shell money in every stage of breaking, drilling and stringing, and an acting priest keeping ancestral religion alive in a lagoon described as one of its final strongholds. The island carries harder history too, a memorial to the villagers killed in 1942 when American aircraft mistook Laulasi for a Japanese position.
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Couple
A day on the water between hand-built islands, carrying the story of a community reopening its doors.
Family
Children watch money made from shells and islands raised from coral, both better than any classroom.
Friends
Time it for mid-August, when the lagoon's shell-money festival at Busu is a short hop away.
- The seven tribes that own Laulasi reconciled in August 2025 specifically to reopen the island to visitors.
- It is a true artificial island, built by hand from coral in the lagoon and still lived on.
- Lagoon tours run from Auki, and the tribes' 2025 launch formally reopened Laulasi's own tourism.
- A memorial marks the 1942 bombing, when American aircraft mistook the island for a Japanese position.
Around the lagoon the ordinary plate is fish from the water and taro out of Malaita's gardens.
Mid-August brings the lagoon's shell-money festival at Busu, food stalls included.
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