Vanuatu

Discover Vanuatu

Bungee jumping was invented here, but they use vines instead of cords. On Pentecost Island, men climb wooden towers up to 100 feet tall and dive headfirst with vines tied to their ankles. They've been doing it for centuries.

But people arrived in Vanuatu long before anyone started jumping off towers. Melanesian peoples settled these 83 islands over 3,000 years ago. They navigated by stars, built canoes, and developed over 100 different languages across the island chain.

Portuguese explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós landed in 1606, convinced he'd found the mythical southern continent. He named it Australia del Espíritu Santo. He was very lost. Captain Cook showed up in 1774 and called the islands New Hebrides.

Then the exploitation began.

Sandalwood traders stripped the forests. Missionaries converted villagers. And from the 1860s onward, recruiters kidnapped thousands of islanders to work sugar plantations in Australia and Fiji. The practice was called "blackbirding." It continued for decades.

In 1906, Britain and France created the Condominium, a bizarre arrangement where both countries governed together. There were British schools and French schools, British hospitals and French hospitals. Locals called it the "Pandemonium."

Vanuatu broke free on July 30, 1980. The new name came from local languages and means "Our Land Forever."

Today Vanuatu feels like the world forgot to modernize it, and that's the appeal.

Mount Yasur on Tanna Island erupts constantly. You can stand at the edge of an active volcano at night and feel the explosions in your chest. The blue holes are freshwater swimming spots hidden in the jungle. Million Dollar Point lets you snorkel over military trucks that Americans dumped in the ocean after World War II because shipping them home cost too much.

Lap lap is Vanuatu's national dish. Root vegetables get grated, wrapped in banana leaves, and slow-cooked with coconut cream until soft. Kava is a ceremonial drink made from pepper plant roots. It numbs your tongue and calms your mind. Not for kids, but the coconuts are.

Land diving on Pentecost Island happens every spring. The vines are measured for each jumper. The goal is to brush your shoulders against the ground. It's a harvest ritual, a coming-of-age ceremony, and the wildest thing you'll ever watch.