The Millennium Cave tour is an action packed, adventure filled experience. They say it is not for the faint hearted and only those who enjoy a challenge should attempt to join the team. We will be trekking through a forest, exploring Vanuatu’s largest cave, scrambling over and under boulders, swimming down a river, and climbing up and down tons of ladders.
What is the Millennium Cave?
It is the largest and most impressive cave in the Pacific region. Spanning over 400 meters long and 50 meters tall, this labyrinthine cave system is a testament to the power of nature. Its towering stalactites and stalagmites create a surreal underground world. About a gazillion bats call this cave their home making the rocks below a poo’y surface.
The cave is considered a sacred site and holds great significance for the people of Vanuatu, as it was once a refuge during tribal conflicts. It received it’s new name, Millennium Cave when it opened up to the public in the year 2000.
Most of the proceeds from the Millennium Cave tour go back to the local villages (Nambel and Funaspef) to fund schools and help educate the children.
Ready for the fun?
We are picked up from Oyster Bay lagoon at 0730 and then we drive 45-minutes to Luganville to pick up Tiffany (27 year old from France) and to the office to sign our lives away. Next is a 90-minute ride to the small village of Nambel. This is where the car stops as the road stops. We meet our guide, Tony who happens to be the brother to our driver Michele.
Nambel Village
Super small village of 50 people, but the grounds are clean and everything is well kept and beautiful. We don’t waste time and make our way to Funaspef shortly after arrival.
It is a 30-minute walk through the mud from Nambel to Funaspef village. Along the way we pass through coconut and cocoa plantations and cross a bamboo bridge. I say “bridge” loosely as it consists of long bamboo shoots laid across from one side to the other. Not nailed down or secured in anyway!
Funaspef Village
This is where Tony, our guide lives. He takes us to the community center and explains the tour and provides us with a torch and life jacket. And then we are off…it is 10:00am. We have a 2-hour trek through the forest to the cave entrance.
It has not rained in over 5 days yet the trails/roads are still very muddy (see Matt’s shoes top right). About 60% of the trail is hard mud or dirt, but the other 40% is pure squishy mud. The kind that sucks your shoes off and makes it challenging to walk up right.
The scenery to the cave is simply beautiful. Lush green trees, bright vibrant flowers, birds and only nature as your soundtrack. We had two 2-minute rest stops for water and continued on.
We crossed the Sarakota river several times, lots of hiking up and walking down (carefully as not to slip in the mud)…more river crossings. The water is so clear and beautiful.
Sarakota River
We experience our first, of many, “ladders.” I say “ladder” loosely as they are two tree stumps with tree limbs used as rungs. They are unevenly spaced out, crooked, and leaning to one side. It is extremely challenging as your shoes are muddy, the ladder leans to one side, and there is no place to get a good grip with your hands. This is the one ladder Matt was able to “walk down.” Tiffany and I went down backwards, on all 4s!
But we finally arrive at the entrance to the Millennium Cave.
Face Painting Ritual
We stop at the entrance for a face painting ceremony. Because this is a sacred site, Tony performs a ritual to protect us from danger. The clay paste etching is applied as he tells you what each symbol means: waterfall, zigzag river, rocks, safety. This will ensure a safe passage through the river and the cave.
Tony hands us our torches as we descend a steep ladder to the entrance.
Millennium Cave
We enter the beautiful entrance shrouded in plants and trees. The cave is 50 meters tall and 400 meters wide. There is a fresh water river running through it causing a slight current. You step into the cold water up to your knees as you attempt to make your way forward.
The cave entrance looking outside in.
Once inside the Cave, we follow Tony as we navigate the river bed, examine the walls of the Cave and aim our torch up to the cave roof, to see the home of tiny bats and swallows.
The cave entrance looking inside out.
It was pretty challenging to hold the torch in one hand while wading through the river current and stepping on slippery rocks and boulders in the pitch black. We turned our lights off and could not see our hand in front of our faces!
I was relived to see the light at the end of the cave. I am pretty tired already and we are only half way through the adventure. Legs are trembling, hands are sore (despite me wearing gloves), and heart rate is up from both exertion and exhaustion. And yet I am in wonderment at the loveliness around me.
Exiting the Millennium Cave
We stop for 20 minutes for lunch, thank goodness. A view of the cave’s exit. Matt is desperately trying to keep the dry bag out of the water. Which is funny as the next part of the adventure is swimming.
River Swimming
I was excited about the river portion of the tour as I was hoping we could just relax and let the river float us from one end to the other. Ha! Not exactly the case. We pack my phone in a zip lock, then place it in my water proof Ugo small bag, then put that inside another zip lock, which is then placed in a small dry bag and then inside my drybag backpack. Surely it will stay dry! and it does.
There is a very slight current that slowly moves you but in the end you have to swim, paddle, and kick to keep moving forward. So much for the relaxing rest period in a cool refreshing river. I will say the canyon that you swim down is stunning. So much greenery, lush hillsides, waterfalls, and pure natural beauty.
Several times I floated on my back to look up at the towering canyon walls and it simply took my breath away.
And so many waterfalls. The cave had several waterfalls, but the ones along the river were stunning!
I also thought that we would be swimming in the river for the full 30-45 minutes. But as it turns out, you are in the river for 10-12 minutes, then you clamber over giant boulders, back in the river, then out again climbing another one of those darn ladders, back in the river, and over more boulders. No rest for the weary!
Canyoning
Canyoning begins, once you are done with the swimming portion. I don’t know if I can dig deep enough for the energy to canyon. But, what choice do I have?
The boulders are huge; you climb under and clamber over, testing your fitness and sense of adventure. In some areas they have ropes with knots where you can use to climb up or down one side of the boulder. In other areas they have U-shaped rebar hammered into the rock for you to use as a foot or hand hold. But most places you are using rock climbing skills to scamper over the wet, and mossy boulders.
In between the canyoning you are still crossing rivers. A constant state of wet. But onward we continue.
And guess what? More ladders! Holy hell you have got to be kidding me!
Are we there yet?
Just when I think I can’t go on any longer, Tony says one more big ladder and then we have a 30 minute trek to Funaspef. We all make it back in one piece!
Tony’s wife offers us coffee and bananas as we try to dry off. It doesn’t really matter as we are caked in mud so who cares if we are wet? It is now 1500, 4.5 hours of adventuring.
We then walk the 30 minutes from Funaspef village to Nambel where Michele awaits with his car. I’ve never been so relieved to sit down! Now we have a 90-minute drive to Luganville and then another 40-minute drive to Oyster Bay Lagoon where Sugar Shack awaits us.
The Millennium Cave adventure was a huge adrenaline rush and we spent lots of moments in awe of the beauty around. The sense of accomplishment we felt at the end was truly unparalleled!
Yeah me, yeah us! Here are our activity stats:
- 17,318 steps
- 11.2 km
- 735 calories burned (this has to be wrong as I felt we burnt way more than that)
- 64 floors climbed
Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events. We did the Millennium Cave tour on 8 August 2024. Hope you did not miss the beautiful blue holes of Vanuatu in our last blog post.
Sounds absolutely amazing. Going back to do that one if we get another chance.