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Challenging Millennium Cave Trek

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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

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.

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.

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

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.

Vanuatu Blue Holes

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Vanuatu boasts of having more blue holes than anywhere else in the world.  So it is no surprise that we wanted to visit a few during our stay.  We were lucky enough to visit 3 and each were very different yet so very similar in their outstanding beauty.

Note:  This is a long post because I wanted to include all three blue holes: Malo, Matevulu, and Riri.  Funny enough, we visited the blue holes in the same order as they are listed here from beautiful, to stunning, to exquisite.  Matt’s favorite was the Riri blue hole because they had a nice wooden deck.  However, my favorite was the Matevulu blue hole because of the varied colors and amazing river journey to get to the hole.

What is a blue hole?

In Vanuatu, the blue holes are created due to its unique geology.  Water from the island’s volcanic mountains, over 30km away, flow underground into limestone caves.  These caves corrode and create an underground stream.  Eventually, the streams resurface as freshwater springs, or what is known as a blue hole.  The crystal-clear water meanders from each blue hole to the sea.  The waters are incredibly clear, creating a dazzling luminescent effect that seems almost too perfect to be natural.

Espiritu Santo is home to more blue holes than any other island. The water draws its incredible azure color from the minerals and limestone rock, creating a veritable oasis in the forest.

Malo Blue Hole

The first blue hole we visit is called the Malo Blue Hole.  We anchored at Ratua Island and took the dinghy across the Segund Channel to the river opening.  It took us about 10 minutes to dinghy up the crystal-clear river to Lake Malo.  

River to Lake Malo

River to Lake Malo

There were a gazillion sand dollars in the river. I mean it was a treasure trove.  They were all dead, but still so very beautiful.  Only a few made it back to Sugar Shack with me. Lake Malo was full of sting rays and bird life surrounding the turquoise waters.

We continue down a smaller and more shallower river which opens into the rarely visited Malo Blue Hole.  It is so calm and peaceful here.  The mirror image of the lush forest on the water took our breath away!  Pure solitude and bliss.  The water is more turquoise, but stunning none the less.

Here is our track into Lake Malo and then into the Malo Blue Hole.

Here is a drone shot which shows Ratua (top photo, small island) the dark blue water is the Segund channel, then the lake (which runs off the edge of the photo), then the small blue hole (can you see Sweetie in the blue hole?)

Not the best photo of us as it was into the sun, but you know what we look like 🙂

Malo Island’s blue hole is a true swimming sanctuary and rarely visited (especially if there are no guests at Ratua Island Resort).  Deep and refreshing, this is considered one of the more natural of Santo’s blue holes.  There are no services, toilets, or man-made structures here.

Matevulu Blue Hole

We slowly wandered up the twisty river to Vanuatu’s largest and deepest (18m deep) blue hole called Matevulu. The red arrow is Sugar Shack in the Peterson Bay Lagoon.  We took Sweetie up the long zig-zagging river to the Matevulu Blue Hole.  In the bottom photo, the drone was 120 meters high and yet you can still see the bottom.

The slow trip upriver was an experience in itself as we floated across the transparent waters under the canopy of lush green trees.  This river had bright green floating plants on the river’s edge.  It felt like Sweetie was overing over the water.

This is by far the prettiest river leading to a blue hole.  

Matevulu Blue Hole

The first thing you see is the amazing water, then you see the welcome center on the shore.  It costs 1,000vt ($8USD) which you put into an “Honesty Box.”  They have restrooms and a few sitting and lounge areas.

It is simply unbelievable how clear this water is!  The water is about 2′ above the cement platform (top left photo).

Once we arrived to the blue hole we noticed a giant rope swing tied to a large banyan tree and a large slide.  Of course we had to do it all!  The slide required a bucket full of water before sliding down the extra large pipe.

My hands are still in recovery so I skipped the rope swing, but Matt had a go at it.

The tallest rope swing is off the banyan tree where they “propped” a ladder up against its side.

The left photo is taken half under water and yet it is still clear.  Keep in mind that this is 18 meters deep!  And you can still see the bottom.

Sweetie looks like she is just hovering in mid-air….

The only bummer part of this hole is the destroyed cement structures that have fallen into the pool.  Previously, used to get in/out of the water and also as a sun bathing area.  It’s a shame as it is a detractor, but the rest of the beauty still overshadows it.

Riri Blue Hole

Known as the prettiest blue hole in all of Vanuatu. The paddle along the translucent Riri River into the entrance lagoon is like a portal to another world.  Utter perfection for steamy eye gazing and languid soaks.

The river to the Riri blue hole is much shorter and lined with mangroves.  As you can see from the image below, we enter from the upper right corner, to a wide “lake” and then start down the river to the blue hole.

Paddling up the entrance lagoon and crystal river is nothing short of magical!  The Matevulu and Riri rivers are much bluer than the Malo river leading to the holes.  

The colors literally take your breath away.  It is amazing to me that you can see so clearly to the bottom knowing it is fairly deep.  Riri is much smaller than Matevulu, but impressive!  A large fallen tree draws your attention, wish it could be removed.

It is a kaleidoscope of colors and immediately pulls you into its beauty.

Matt finds the rope swing and makes a spectacle of himself.  

I find pure joy just floating in this gorgeous oasis.

The locals have gone to a lot of effort to provide platforms, bathrooms and changing areas to make this blue hole easily accessible. Cost is 1000vt per person or 500 vt for kids.

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  We visited the blue holes in the month of August 2024.  We kill it on our fast run to Luganville to run a million errands in our last blog post.

Luganville: The Dreaded Errands

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It had been over 2 months since Matt and I were in a “town.”  We were in need of so many things that we had to make a day of it.   We hired a taxi driver to pick us up at a large concrete dock off of Oyster Bay Lagoon in the island of Santo.  Thank goodness he came in a pick up truck as we filled the back of it up!  And off we go to Luganville, the largest town on Santo and frankly in the northern islands of Vanuatu.

We had 2 large bags and 3 small bags of rubbish (the small bags belonged to another boat).  We had 7 jerry cans, 1 propane bottle and lots of empty bags to fill.  It is a nice 40-minute drive from Oyster Bay lagoon to Luganville.  The main town is all on one street located on the waterfront with many stores.

Luganville

Our first stop had to be the dump to get rid of our rubbish. We had heard that they recycle aluminum and tusker beer bottles but we later learned they only recycle the tusker bottles.  if you notice all of the red bags in the dump it is because those are municipality bags.  Locals buy these particular bags and then leave their bags in designated places on the street for free.  We heard about this and bought yellow bags in Efate thinking we could use them all over Vanuatu.  Ha!  Not the case.  Each island has their own color.  If you do not have the proper color you cannot leave your bag in the designated spots on the street.  Oh well, we tried.   Efate has yellow bags and Santo has red bags.

Our next stop was Paradise Petroleum.  We had (5) 20 liter and (2) 30 liter jerry cans to fill with benzine (aka gasoline).  We use gasoline for the dinghy and for our small portable generator.  The big boat uses diesel.  We had lots of cloudy days with no solar and had to use the generator a lot.  Plus we were out exploring in the dinghy using up a lot of fuel.  We filled up 157 liters and it cost $257 USD (192vt/liter).  Hopefully, this gasoline will last us for 2.5-3 months.

We also refilled our propane tank which we use for cooking and the BBQ ($21USD).  This should last us 4-5 months.

Next it was off to Digicel to get top up cards for our local SIM which I use to have internet access onshore.  We hit the fresh market (lower right photo above), the butcher (just because), Santo Hardware, and the fairly well stocked LCM Grocery Store.  The hardware store did not have a hose or machete that we wanted but we did buy some nice fishing lures.

Will it All Fit?

We were on a mission and were in and out of every store relatively fast.  By 11:45am we were heading back to Oyster Bay Lagoon.  I have to say that I am still impressed with all that we did in such a short amount of time.  We stuffed it all in the back of the truck and prayed it would all fit in the dinghy.

  • 7 Bags of groceries
  • 3 cases of beer
  • 7 jerry cans
  • 1 propane tank

I guess after 7.5 years of doing this we have it down to an art….no problem with the fit and we got the dinghy to plane!  We unloaded it onto the boat and admired our stash.

An expensive day for sure, but this will hold us over for several months.  

Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  We went to Luganville on 7 August 2024.  Did you read about our trip to a private island and resort in our last blog?