Malekula

Malekula does not open on arrival. Its interior climbs into jungle ridges where paths link communities that speak differently valley by valley, and its coast holds the small centres, Lakatoro and Norsup, where every journey inward begins. Give it slow days and named hosts and the island starts to talk.

This is Vanuatu's cultural deep end. The labels outsiders know, Big Nambas and Small Nambas, are broad names laid over many distinct communities, each with its own language, dance forms and rules about what visitors may see. The Vanuatu Cultural Centre keeps one of its two island sub-centres here, a keeper of traditional knowledge from thatching to weaving and the right first stop. Communities now lead visitors to their historic cannibal sites on the communities' own terms, and custom still decides who may see what; that control is the point. The island's signature journey is the Manbush Trail, a strenuous crossing of several days from Unua on the east coast over ridges near 850 metres to the west, sleeping in villages and bush shelters, passing a cave, a nakamal and a waterfall, with hill communities such as the Lembongbong hosting each night. After dark, Ambrym's volcanic glow hangs across the water.