THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
The Solomons are only three hours flying time from Australia, yet receive less than 10,000 tourists per year, many of them divers. The country has shied away from mass tourism and sprawling luxury resorts in favour of small-scale ecotourism facilities run by local operators and village communities. Ecotourism in the Solomons focuses on the unspoiled natural environment (both above and below the waterline) and the age-old Island cultures.
The Solomon Islanders are a peaceful nation enjoying a low crime rate. (The main precaution visitors need to take is a dose of anti-malaria tablets). The people are mainly Melanesian and number around half a million. Since gaining independence from Britain in 1977, the country has been governed democratically by a Westminster-style parliament with 50 members. Ninety percent of the people still lead subsistence lifestyles in rural villages on the dozen or so larger, mountainous islands. Hundreds of smaller islands lie uninhabited.
The capital, Honiara, is a bustling industrial town of some 50,000 residents, and serves as a jumping-off point for travellers venturing out to sample the attractions of the various island provinces. Divers tend to head for the Western Province, where reefs are pristine and plenteous and the sunken remains of WW2 ships and aircraft remain undisturbed in shallow waters. Cultural tourists are well catered for in Malaita, which still has isolated bush villages virtually unchanged since last century. Brides are still paid for with shell money and pigs, and stories of magic men and giants abound.
The island of Guadalcanal features some of the best hiking terrain in the Pacific, with mountains higher than Australia's Mt Kosciusko and myriad rainforests, river valleys, ravines and waterfalls. The Guadalcanal Plains are even today littered with the relics of WW2's bloodiest battles: beached landing barges, aircraft wrecks, rusting tanks. Overgrown fighter strips are still visible from the air.

GETTING THERE
From Australia: Solomon Airlines and Qantas operate a joint service from Brisbane to Honiara three times a week, and direct from Sydney every weekend (Boeing 737). Special return fares are available if booked in conjunction with accommodation.
From Fiji/Vanuatu: Solomon Airlines has two flights a week from Nadi via Port Vila - Tuesdays and Sundays.

From New Zealand: Air New Zealand and Air Pacific services from Auckland connect with Solomon Airlines at Nadi. Flying via Australia is another option.
From Papua New Guinea: Solomon Airlines and Air Niugini operate a joint service from Port Moresby on Wednesdays and Sundays (Fokker F28).

ECOTOURISM DESTINATIONS
The Solomon Islands is an environmental wonderland, where villagers live a balanced co-existence with nature, taking just enough from the land and sea for their needs. Several sites in the Solomons have recently been recognised as worthy of World Heritage listing.
Lake Tenggano at the eastern end of Rennell Island supports an exotic freshwater ecosystem unlike any other in the world, almost entirely surrounded by the sea, featuring a plethora of unique bird life. The Marovo Lagoon in the Western Province is the earth's largest tropical coastal lagoon. Its deep, calm waters are pinioned between the maternal coastlines of New Georgia and Vangunu Islands on one side, and protected from the open ocean on the other side by a chain of reefs and islets. Dotted throughout the lagoon are the small islands on which the Marovo people live, their dugout canoes criss-crossing the water hundreds of times a day.
Although distinguished by its size, the Marovo Lagoon is relatively similar in type to other coastal lagoons found in the Solomons, such as the Roviana Lagoon (near Munda), Maringe Lagoon (Santa Isabel Island), Marau Sound (Guadalcanal) and the Langa Langa, Lau and Are Are Lagoons of Malaita Island. Village communities in these and other areas across the Solomons continue to face a common dilemma: whether to allow their old-growth forests to be cleared by logging companies for quick cash, or to persevere with ecotourism which yields lesser returns and appears - to the islanders - to be taking forever to develop.

ECOTOURISM ACCOMMODATION
Scuba diving has been the mainstay of the Solomons tourism industry for the past forty years, and much of the tourism infrastructure has been built to service the needs of divers. The larger hotels and resorts are all located in Honiara, Gizo and Munda which are the major diving destinations. Prior to the 1990s there has been very little bookable tourist accommodation available in other parts of the country and intrepid travellers have often had to rely on friendly locals to take them in. However more recently the increasing number of visitors seeking to visit the rural areas - particularly sites of geophysical, biological or cultural interest - has led to the development of a range of low-cost, "village style" accommodation facilities for those travellers who are more interested in culture and environment than luxury rooms with cable TV. You will not find any of these places listed in glossy travel brochures.

Village stays are the "top-level" ecotourism experience in the Solomons. While this is the most basic (yet comfortable) standard of accommodation, a village homestay is the closest that visitors can get to Solomon Islands culture and lifestyle without undergoing tribal initiation! As a village homestay guest you are accommodated in your own village-style bungalow next to the home of your host family. Your hosts will treat you more like a relative visiting from another village rather than a foreign tourist, and you will be able to observe and participate in village life at very close quarters. In addition your hosts will accompany you in your exploration of local attractions. Village homestays only accept one booking at a time so you will be free to "go native" without other tourists peering down their noses at you.

Village guest houses - or "rest houses" as they are often called in the Solomons - are generally situated outside the main village area. This may offer more privacy from wide-eyed village children but you may have to share your experience with other visitors. Most village guest houses offer a choice of self-catering or local-style meals provided. Village visits have to be arranged in advance and are therefore rather contrived.

Nature lodges are situated in areas with particularly bountiful plant and animal life. Operators offer interpretive tours of the local flora and fauna and cultural tours of villages and "tabu" sites. Most nature lodges are situated in the Marovo Lagoon (built with assistance from the World Heritage Project), and Savo Island near Honiara (an active volcano). Village stays, village guest houses and nature lodges all offer a similar standard of accommodation: bush-material buildings, clean bedding, sitting furniture, fresh running water and proper toilets. Meals are deliciously cooked in local style using mainly fresh seafood, chicken, green vegetables and tubers.

Local-style resorts in the Solomons are not really resorts at all: there are no swimming pools, nightclubs or jet skis. These are rustic hideaways where visitors with no qualms about being treated as bona fide tourists can relax in relative privacy, swim and snorkel, go fishing, visit a few local attractions and enjoy some cultural entertainment from the local village. Generally they offer a better standard of accommodation and more Western-style meals.

ECOTOURISM MELANESIA offers independent travellers the opportunity to "island-hop" through the Solomons experiencing various places through the eyes of the local people rather than through the megaphone of a tour group leader. Ecotourism Melanesia arrange prepaid bookings at a selection of village homestays, village guest houses, nature lodges and local-style resorts. Most of these properties cannot be booked through overseas travel agents as the villages do not have phone/fax/e-mail. We use a HF radio network to contact accommodation operators in rural areas.

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