Mount Yasur — Attraction in Tanna

Mt Yasur Volcano, Tanna. Our family of five flew to Tanna on the Air Vanuatu twin otter last week. We stayed the first night at the Jungle Oasis, right next to the volcano where you can hear the volcano rumbling from your bed at night (very cool). It's roughly one hour and 15 min from the airport to the volcano - depending on road conditions. Most likely many of your group will be seated in the back of a truck (wear sunscreen!). There are no shops on the road once you leave Lenakel, so be sure to have water/snacks with you - just ask your guide to stop in Lenakel if you need. A few things to know if you have never been before based on our experience on an organised Sunset Tour: We approached the volcano from the north - over the ash plain. Our 3 kids (aged 8,10 and 11) absolutely loved playing on the ash plain next to Mt Yasur.....exploring the gullys next to the river and racing each other up and down the volcano slope. They loved it so much we went back another day and they spent another two hours running around and using their imagination. You will stop at the volcano visitor center on the way to the summit for payment (if not already sorted through your guide) and a very short safety brief. It is a short walk up some steps from the summit car park to the volcano rim. Take a jumper as it is often quite chilly at the top even when it's a warm day. If you have children with you - brief them before you get there on the importance of following instructions and staying well back from the flimsy handrail at the rim unless holding your hand. As you can see from my photos - it is an incredibly steep drop straight down from the handrail. It is generally recommended to go during the dry season as once it rains, the crater is often filled with steam from the rainwater seeping down and hitting the lava, making viewing difficult (this happened to me the first time I went to see the volcano). Another recommendation is to try and do the tour on your first night in Tanna to give you some back-up options if your first night doesn't produce the right viewing conditions. When you first arrive at the rim of the volcano and it's still daylight (if you do the sunset tour) don't be worried if you can't see anything spectacular or you can only see one small pit of lava. We were initially worried we had spent a lot of money to see very little....but once the sun sets - suddenly the flames and shoots of lava light up the crater like you wouldn't believe! The noise from the lava explosions can be a bit scary and our kids were really nervous to start with - but once it was dark and they heard everyone oohing and ahhing at the lava jets, they overcame their fears and now have some wonderful lasting memories. The sulphur cloud can be a bit overpowering when the wind blows it right into the group. Consider a mask for those who may have breathing difficulties. If you want to put up a drone - you may be charged an extra 5,000vt. Ours only lasted about 4 minutes before the smoke and ash started to make it malfunction and we had to have it return to base. A number of people often ask about just doing a day trip to Mt Yasur from Port Vila using an air charter flight. Be aware - you will not see the shooting lava during the day....and quite possibly may just see a bunch of steam or smoke filling the crater. It can be disappointing if you don't know this information before going. It must be dark to see the true beauty of the lava jets. 11.We were so lucky that the conditions were just right for our family to see nature's majesty in all her might. It was an incredible experience which our family will cherish for...

We went on our own to Tanna. We flew with Air Vanuatu and stayed for a night at the Volcano Island Paradise Bungalow. It was an awesome experience overall and a highlight for us. Nevertheless, it left a bitter taste. Compared to the rest of Vanuatu especially the main island with Port Vila, it is crazy overpriced. I paid USD 100 for 2 persons as transport costs only to the lodge. In addition, the tour company which you cannot circumvent costs another USD 100 per person. The lodges are priced with average USD 30 per night which means having only a little roof over your bed and last but not least you have to pay for every meal which isn't cheap compared to what you get. Sadly, you are not really able to see where this money goes as all projects you see are sponsored by aid or government projects. Overall, if you go on that trip, don't think that you can save money or that it will be cheap. Expect that it will be costly that you are able to enjoy your trip. Great cultural...

This is the money factory of Tanna island. Way too expensive to enter, and not cheap to get there from the main resort area either. Hundreds of people in each group to walk up the side of the crater, with no guide information apart from them expressing their worries about people getting killed or hurt by lava landing on em. So yeah, you have to take care obviously. But we went with an amazing guy called Peter and his son Jeremy, and they were just great. They were on motor bikes... The crater itself was of course what you would expect and hope for, but the locals are certainly greedy for money it would seem, and we travellers are paying through the nose frankly. Oh, and I should mention that often the weather conditions up there mean you don't get to see much anyway, and though we were lucky, we met many who had not been, and couldn't see...