Bunlap

Bunlap is the southernmost of the major kastom villages on Pentecost's east coast and the spiritual heart of the land-dive tradition. It is reached on foot from the road, a long uphill walk through rainforest from the coast, or by a more rugged track over the central ridge from the western side of the island. There are no vehicles, no shop, no electricity beyond a few solar panels — just the kastom village laid out around a central nasara (dance ground), with the towers built and dismantled each year for the land dive.

Visits are arranged through the village chief, usually via a tour operator in Port Vila or Pangi. Photography requires permission and a fee, dress should be modest by Western standards, and you should be prepared for a long, hot, muddy walk in to get there. The trip is worth every step.

things to do sight culture
A story
Bunlap is one of the few villages in Vanuatu that has consciously held the line on traditional dress and practice — the men wear nambas (penis sheaths) and the women wear grass skirts, day in and day out, and the village schedules its life around the kastom calendar rather than the Western one. The villagers' decision to do so in the face of nearly two centuries of missionary and government pressure is, in its way, as much a piece of resistance as anything in Pacific history.