24 Apr 2014

Vanuatu Days

We arrived in Port Vila, Vanuatu on Tuesday and completed formalities there before heading north. We took a break from birding and spent the afternoon snorkelling, which everybody really enjoyed. Yesterday was dedicated to a hunt for the elusive Royal Parrotfinch on the island of Tongoa in the Shepherd Islands. Even with local knowledge and a number of communications from the local chief our directions it could be said were at best confusing. After a false start and a tropical downpour we regrouped. Miraculously we found our target feeding high in the branches of a fig tree within an hour of the next landing. Another success we can tick off on our southern Pacific sojourn! This morning in another small diversion from birding we are off to look for Dugongs before moving on to Espiritu Santo and the Vatthe Conservation area.