Worshiper of Prince Philip and other interesting people of Tanna

---

---

Wow! Tanna, one of the most southerly islands in Vanuatu, is amazing - traditional custom villages, cults, volcanos and beautiful scenery. The highlight of the year so far is meeting the Chief of the Prince Philip Cult. Yup, that's right - followers of the man who's not renowned for his sensitivity and cross-cultutral understanding!

We just turned up near the village and someone went to seek permission to enter his village. We were welcomed in and he told us how he's expecting Prince Phil to come and live with them and that Phil will look after them all and the people of Vanuatu - all of whom the Chief believes worship Phil, like he does. He showed us photos of Prince Phil and various cuttings of the Royal from UK magazines. Phil had sent him some of these photos personally (including one where Phil is holding a spear type objects sent by the Chief to him in London). They hold a festival every year on Phil's birthday.

Apparently the background is that for centuries, there was an ancient story about a young man that ventured across the seas to marry a princess. This somehow became linked to Prince Phil, as people saw pictures of him and the Queen in government offices, when Vanuatu was still a British colony. There's another tribe in a village nearby that also follow Phil and these guys have been filmed recently by a New Zealand TV company who took them to London. But there's rivalry between both tribes and the Chief emphasised to us that he is the real leader of the real followers of Phil. Respect! But it's not as bizarre as it sounds as there are up to 7000 people on Tanna who also follow an American named John Frum who visited the island in 1936.

Tanna is famous for growing Vanuatu's fantastic pure organic coffee and also for Mt Yasur volcano, one of the most accessible volcanos in the world and one of Vanuatu's highlights. You can climb right up and stand on the edge of the crater and look in, so as darkness falls you begin to see a great firework display - all natural stuff.

And there are a number of traditional villages which are accessible to foreigners, many of which practice black magic and witch doctors cast spells to heal or harm or to start or stop the rains and some of which are happy to show some of their traditional customs and dances to white people with expensive cameras.

---

Photos

The Chief
holding the Union Jack sent to him by Buck Palace - and we thought colonialism had ended in Vanuatu...

The Prince
Photos sent by Phil to the Chief - including one where he is holding the traditional spear given to him by the Chief

mmm, admiring photos of HRH
So glad I mentioned that I'd met Prince Philip!

Yakel Village
By now it's only in the more traditional villages that the women just wear grass skirts and the men wear the nambas

Volcano
Mt Yasur is one of the world's most accessible vocanoes as there is a road that means 4wd vehicles can get up to around 150m from the crater rim

ready...
standing on the edge you can see into one of the four craters

steady...
you start to hear a rumble down below...the ground shakes...

bang!
and red-hot lava shoots out. The level of activity wasn't high when we were there, but lava has shot out and instantly killed people standing at the rim in the past

Not sure he's happy to see us...
Cannibalism ended in the 1960s, though there are reports of some people being thrown into the pot as late as the 1980s