Solomon Islands 12, Munda

In order to get to Munda, we first took a boat to Matikuri Island, where we stayed overnight. The boat ride took several hours. We also visited an island with still intact mangroves and a waterfall. The island was the home of one of the crew members of Driftwood Lodge. This was the reason we could visit it. As most of the islands and properties are privately owned, a tourist cannot just visit a place – one needs a  permit from  the owner, which normally means that one has to pay a certain amount of money.

Gliding across the calm, crystal clear ocean water was just amazing!

In order to reach the waterfall, we first had to paddle through a beautiful waterway lined with mangroves.

On the way to the waterfall, we passed several “apple trees”. The fruit tastes very watery and a bit sour – but still delicious!

Lorenz climbed up part of the waterfall

A crew member made two hats out of fern, which grow there in abundance. Adrienne decorated hers with a bunch of Solomon apples.

Matikuri Lodge

From the deck of Matikuri Lodge, we had this fantastic view!

The next day we went by boat to Seghe, from where we took an airplane to Munda. We were happy that it did not rain, because the landing place was made out of dirt. Sometimes, planes cannot land when it is too wet.

Seghe airport

Waiting for the plane on the only luggage/package carrier

The plane had 20 seats, but we were the only customers. There were no safety rules. The main purpose of the plane seems to be transporting packages.

The flight to Munda was spectacular!

We stayed in Munda (New Georgia Island)  in the Agnes Hotel and went scuba diving with  “Dive Munda”. The operator, Belinda Botha, is an environmental activist putting all her effort into the preservation of the paradisiacal region (www.divemunda.com).

Lola, the island where I took the refresher course for scuba diving.

A group of sharks swam very close to the shore

Like in Honiara, Munda was also a place of fierce battles between the Americans and the Japanese.  We visited the tiny island where President Kennedy found rescue after his boat was sunk. He wrote on a coconut his whereabout. Natives brought the message to his comrades.

Lorenz and I also visited the war museum in Munda. We first had to walk along the “highway” – a dirt road higher up than the coastal road built by the Americans.  During the war, the area around Munda was totally destroyed – it looked like on the moon, the owner of the Peter Joseph War Museum told us. Once, there was a belt of mangrove along the shore – it totally disappeared too. When the American and British forces won the war against the Japanese, they had to decide what to do with all the war equipments and decided to push it into the ocean. A recent earthquake swallowed it mostly up. Many objects of World War II are still found.

ID’s of soldiers

In the museum, there are also a lots of objects used by the Japanese.

Munda was still beautiful for me. It had nice houses with nice gardens, palm trees and lots of other blooming shrubs. It was good to see that nature could come back after such heavy destruction.