Exploring Tonga

It was quite a steep climb up a staircase before we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the Vava’u islands and the Neiafu harbour with Europa resting in the middle. Next stop was another impressive viewpoint, Esi o Salote, with cliffs and beaches and the vast ocean covering the horizon. We had a quick look at the Veimumuni cave before we headed off to the highlight of the day, the Ene’io botanical garden. Lucy guided us excellently around the botanical garden talking us through a variety of Tongan species of trees and plants. Many of these species were brought with the Tongans as they migrated from Taiwan to Indonesia before reaching Tonga. The plants were used for food and medicinal purposes. One type of leaf helped for tummy ache, another for infections, and one was used as a spice in cooking. And the tree of life, the coconut tree was the most important of them all. The coconut provides both food and water, and the nut itself can be used as cups and decoration. The leaves are used for weaving baskets and as plates. Nothing is wasted of the coconut tree. We got to taste and smell the various leaves and plants, before a whole variety of fruits were served. Pineapple, papaya, watermelon and then the coconut cake, which was amazing, and is also served when the King is visiting the botanical garden. 

Our tour ended in the holy place of Pouono. This is the place where the chiefs and the King met to agree on what to do with the problem of western occupation. The King at the time decided to declare Tonga land of God and not let any of the western nations occupy Tonga. Ceremonies are still taking place here with the King and Chiefs, but for those occasions it is not allowed to film and document the event, so most locals have never seen the ceremony. We considered ourselves lucky to experience this holy and important place for the Tongans. Back in the harbour we thanked our guides and the bus driver before we were back onboard for lunch prepared by Gjalt and Sasha. 

In the afternoon we drove down to Ano beach to participate in a beach clean-up. We were a bit surprised that the area we were about to clear was not along a beach, it was more a grassy BBQ area. We went about our task, and an hour later we had visually cleared a good portion of the rubbish, measuring 11 kg! Regardless of the amount, Sue and Wolfgang could report improvements in Vava’u since the time they had visited 10 years ago.