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Penama Travel Guide
Forged with the combined energy of Melanesian culture and lush environment, Penama on the southeast of Vanuatu is the motherland of dog and cat-eaters, intoxicating kava, and ethnic bungee jumpers.
Covered in nearly unbroken vegetation, Penama Province occupies the islands of Ambae, Maewo and Pentecost. Small airplanes take people in and out of Penama three to four times a week. From Pentecost one can avail these various landings such as in the country's capital, Port Vila.
Pentecost Island has trucks and speedboats the residents use or lend for surveying the province and its attractions such as coconut and cacao plantations; Maeow's waterfalls and hot springs; and Ambae, whose romantic gardens and cloud-topped volcano inspired James Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Tales of the South Pacific.
Pentecost itself is famous as the birthplace of the extreme adventure sport, bungee jumping, which sprang from the age-old ritual called naghol or Land Diving. Between April and June, men from the Island's southern part jump from tall towers with vines tied to their ankles, believing that the ritual will ensure a good yam harvest, or for adolescents, a symbol of acceptance into manhood. This custom was featured in a ‘50s BBC documentary. UK's Queen Elizabeth II also visited the island in 1974 to check out the ceremony. Nowadays, tourists pay good money to witness the rites, often as a side trip from Port Vila.
Another fascination is the Bunlap tribe, whose village is the only one to retain traditional culture among its Westernized neighbors. Traditional clothing of fiber strips for females and leaf tubes for males has been kept. Naghol is also practiced, only that Bunlaps call it gkol. Men's circumcision is celebrated with the eating of yam and coconut pie baked on hot stones.
Taro is the natives' staple food. Dogs are also in the menu, as well as cats, pigeons and fruit bats. Pigs are highly important not only as food but also as currency. Kava (pepper root) is grown and drunk on many South Pacific islands, but Pentecost is particularly popular for it since the beverage is believed to have originated there.
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