  Vella Lavella Island
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 5 Vella Lavella Island Tips.12 Vella Lavella Island Photos.0 Vella Lavella Island Videos. Vella Lavella Island Pages by minstrel74
 minstrel74's Vella Lavella Island Travelogues | | | |
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| Page Views: 131 Last Visit to Vella Lavella Island: September, 1997 | Ulo River thermal area by minstrel74 - last update: Nov 22, 2004 |
| Ulo River and surrounding jungle |
No visit to the northern end of Vella Lavella Island would be complete without seeing the Ulo River thermal area. The hike there can be quite difficult, given the heat, but it's interesting nonetheless and is worth the effort if you're in good shape. I've included below an excerpt from my personal diary describing the walk to the thermal area. As always, please excuse any poor or otherwise simplistic writing. I was tired and hadn't showered for days when I wrote the passage. "After waiting through some decent rain this morning, Jim, the guides, some children and I headed off to the Ulo River thermal area. The first part was a canoe ride to the mouth of the Ulo River. Once we got there, we began a walk through dense, hot, and humid rainforest. I began to feel overheated and weak early on, but I was determined to make it all the way to the "volcano," as it's called by local villagers.
A few times we had to cross streams on the Ulo River itself. Usually, Jim or one of the other guides would take me [over] on their backs, since I was wearing boots and they were barefoot. At one point, though, we saw that somebody had left a small traditional wooden canoe to cross in. I hopped in and the guides pulled me across. I had seen these narrow little canoes before on television. Everything I'd heard about how hard it was to stay upright in them was true. Nonetheless, we made it across just fine." |
"When we arrived at the thermal area, I took some photos, we sat and ate some food, and eventually headed back. They were all eager to show me different boiling mud pools, that we were continuously hacking our way through bush, and I was getting so weary that all I could think about was getting back to the village, or better yet, sitting in my [apartment] in Fairbanks in January, -40 degrees outside...watching television and enjoying a dinner of pasta noodles." |
| Large Ulo River thermal pool |
"The walk back turned out to be more interesting. At one point, the kids and everyone stopped for a rest, and as I guzzled down water, they began to collect what I think were sago palm leaves. A few minutes later, one of the small boys hugged a coconut tree and began to climb it. He had a made a sort of "foot-slider" for himself using the palm leaves. On top of that, he was ascending the tree with a long machete in one hand! He seemed to reach the top effortlessly, and once there, he cut down several coconuts that fell to the ground next to us. Once we cut off the husk and poked a hole in the eye, we all enjoyed a much-needed drink of coconut milk. After that, we cut the coconuts in half and ate the tender flesh inside..." |
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 Comments for minstrel74 about Vella Lavella Island | | | | |
Groverdean Sat Aug 6, 2005 07:58 UTC
A trully unique experience, just the way I like mine too. Thanks for the pages. | XenoHumph Tue Feb 8, 2005 16:56 UTC
Another cool and unique place to go! Great! | hunwagner Tue Feb 1, 2005 07:59 UTC
I had magapode eggs in the Philippines and in galela on Halmahera Island in Maluku, too! BIG and tasty. | littlesam1 Fri Jan 28, 2005 18:10 UTC
Truely an amazing story and adventure. Great page. |
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