Morovo is accessible by yacht but a good reccie was worthwhile before going in with the KUNA. I will give sailing and anchoring details later.
The purpose of this trip was also to gather some visual material for a conservation DVD. Many DVD players are found in villages and Solomon islanders watch whatever they can find! A good means of educating people about conservation values for their country appeared to spread a natural history DVD around, distributing it for free! This is only a project at this stage but hopefully will find its shape !
In Morovo lagoon, the effect of logging have been dramatic, due to erosion of ferralitic soils into the lagoon, covering corals with a deep layer of sediment in some places. Vangunu, the large volcanic island in the middle of the lagoon was clear felled up to 800m on most faces.
muddy waters in the lagoon
once the forest is gone, ferralitic soils quickly erode away, here behind an old logging camp
The lagoon was submitted for World Heritage Area in the 90’s but never won the status due to politicians who prefer getting the benefits of corruption money from the Malaysian or Taiwanese logging companies.
Interestingly, the neat villages shores of Ngatokae are bordered by fairly large houses built out of timbers. All are a fair demonstration of the large cash inflow that logging brought into the island ten years ago. The benefits of the cash introduced in the villages were transient and many unfinished abandoned buildings can be seen around the villages. Rarely, the cash from logging benefited communities either, but more the corrupted individuals who managed to sell the land of all and allow the destructive fleets of machinery to come in, fell and leave before the naïve villagers realize, too late, the extent of the damage.
a neat house, contrasting with the small coconut huts of other solomon places (see Tikopia)
This canoe attests of the large rainforest trees that were available to boat builders
Morovo is one of the few lagoons in the world surrounded by an inner and outer barrier.
On the way from the main town Batuna, to the outer barrier, we catch dinner: a school of bonito is pointed out by some excited noddies.
guide Robert brings in the bonito!!
On many lower limestone outer islands, the remnants of logging camps attest of past damages too. The mainly intact rainforest trees find a hard time to grown in amongst the bare limestone.
The outer islands, such as Porepore, host a large Goanna who generally gets attracted by the smell of fish cooking on the fire. They were easy to spot and photograph with that lure! The goanna is a special creature in Morovo. Being taboo, they are safe from the local’s voracity and a feature animal for a conservation DVD we’re making!
On the way to Porepore, we stopped at Patrik’s grandparent’s place, near Batuna on the main island of Vangunu, to drop of a bag of rice
Solomon rice 10kg bags can be turned into a hand bag and provide with map of the islands, in case you get lost –
Patrick’s grand parents are very healthy: at 90 years old, they still jump in the canoe and paddle to go to their garden and crouch like teenagers.
At 90 also, they have seen large transformations in their customs: less than forty years ago, headhunters coming from other islands were threatening people from Vangunu, killing them, eating some of them or capturing the chidren and raising them to later eat them. The upper ridges of the island are full of taboo sites with the skulls gathered by the headhunters. In some places, such as Biche village, people built fortified villages up into the forest to protect themselves from the head hunters. In those times, the Solomon island population was small and remained so with the many kills.
Patrick with his grand parents
They gave us large bags of Gnahli nuts to eat on the way, a delicious local nut in season from Sept to Nov-December. Removed from their fruit and shell, the Gnahli are roasted to get the best of their taste, a delicacy!
