September 2004

Survivor 9 heads back to the South Pacific.The first edition of Survivor was filmed on Borneo and Survivor 4 was filmed in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. Survivor 9 will be filmed on Vanuatu, an island nation consisting of more than 80 island in Melanesia in the South Pacific.

Vanuatu, known as the New Hebrides while colonized by the French and British, comprises over 80 islands spread out in a long Y- shaped archipelago over 450,000 square kilometers of ocean. Although a popular, inexpensive getaway for Australians and New Zealanders seeking the antithesis of Survivor-style living – pampering, relaxation and indulgence – Vanuatu’s many islands and small population of 200,000 mean there is ample space to craft a Survivor Vanuatu series under outback-like conditions.

Espiritu Santo is Vanuatu’s largest island and a popular destination for SCUBA divers, its pristine setting inspired James A. Michener's classic Tales of the South Pacific. A military station during World War II, the island hosted over 100,000 military personnel, and wrecks of bombers may still be found in its jungles.

Pentecost is the home of spectacular land diving, an event celebrating the local yam harvest - and an ideal potential test for Survivor Vanuatu! As men jump from heights of up to 35 yards with a special vine tied about their feet, the crowds of villages dance and stomp. The original bungee jumping!

The long chain of islands is situated on the "Pacific Rim of Fire" and has dozens of active volcanoes and countless extinct craters and calderas, ideal shoot-locations for Vanuatu Survivor 9 scenes. These upheavals over the millennia have created fantasic landscapes and in many places the tropical forest is untouched and primeval.

Soon, 16 new castaways will be abandoned here, forced to make a new world while competing against each other. Find out this fall who will outwit, outplay and outlast all the others in Survivor Vanuatu, Islands of Fire!

Survivor Vanuatu production camp in Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu.

Efate Island, Vanuatu

Samoa Point, Havannah Habour
Source: Virtual Vanuatu

Pictured above is Samoa Point on the north-west corner of Efate, Vanuatu one of the filming locations for Survivor 9. It is unknown what will be shot at this location but it could be the Challenge Beach area. Samoa Point is described as a rocky headland in the north-west with a small sandy beach. There is good swimming and snorkeling.

Vanuatu: Islands of Fire

Vanuatu map click for larger image

The British and French, who settled the New Hebrides in the 19th century, agreed in 1906 to an Anglo-French Condominium, which administered the islands until independence in 1980.

Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to Australia

Port-Vila on the island of Efate

Vanuatu is a parliamentary republic

Y-shaped chain of four main islands and 80 smaller islands; several of the islands have active volcanoes

Tropical; moderated by southeast trade winds. January temperatures average 27°C and July temperatures average 22°C. During the wet season, from November to April, rainfall totals vary from 2250mm in the south to 3875mm (nearly 4 metres) in the north.

Mostly mountains of volcanic origin; narrow coastal plains. Many of the islands are mountainous, rising straight out of the ocean, with little flat coastal land. The highest point is Tabwemasana 1,877 metres, on the island Espiritu Santo and the capital, Port Vila, is on Efate. Located on the Pacific Ring of Fire there are active volcanoes, frequent earth tremors and occasional tsunamis.

Manganese, hardwood forests, fish

Tropical cyclones or Typhoons (January to April); volcanism causes minor earthquakes; tsunamis

199,414

Ni-Vanuatu

Indigenous Melanesian 98%, French, Vietnamese, Chinese, other Pacific Islanders

Most people live in small villages across all the islands. Only about 14.5% of the population live in urban areas. The two largest cities are Port Vila, on Efate, 19,400 people, and Luganville, on Espiritu Santo, 7000 people.

Traditional beliefs in spirits and demons are often held alongside Christian beliefs. There are some similarities between the traditional beliefs and Christianity with a Creator God, Tahara, a Garden of Eden where the original man and woman ate fruit from the forbidden rose apple tree and fell from grace, and the demon, Saratau. Some places, names, knowledge, objects or practices may be considered 'tabu' or sacred. Natural events are often considered the result of actions of individuals who may have offended certain spirits.

Three official languages: English, French, pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama), plus more than 100 local languages

The root vegetables yams, manioc and taro are the most important subsistence crops. Crops are grown in a freshly cleared section of the forest each year. In places where there is plenty of water, taro is grown in complex terraces hand built from earth and rocks. Taro, wild spinach and grated coconut are ground together to make the national dish, Laplap. Pork, beef, fish, poultry, seafood or bush meat like flying fox may be added, and the mixture is wrapped in banana leaves and baked in an underground oven. Seasonal fruits like breadfruit are important. Kava the 'anti-anxiety herb', is the national drink.

Flag of Vanuatu

The emblem on the flag is the crossed leaves of the 'namele' fern, (for peace) circled by a boar's tusk (for wealth). The boar's tusk is a symbol of prosperity because pigs represent wealth. In the latter stages of encouraging the tusk to grow in a spiral a pig has to be hand fed, and one needs status and wealth to have both a pig feeder and the food which are necessary.