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Photos: Joachim Loeffel
Moso Life

Visiting Vanuatu

By Lydia Rickard

If you want to start your days surrounded by natural beauty,
gazing into azure waters whilst sipping on lime juice and
savouring fruit harvested from adjacent gardens, then Moso life
is for you.
Moso is a speck of an island, just a few clicks from the
mainland. From Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila, it is a 40-minute
drive followed by a 10-minute boat ride. Once aboard, you’ll be
travelling through the waters of the Namoso Passage, arriving
at the car-free, eco retreat known as Moso. To move around the
island, you’ll embrace the salty life and hail a local fisherman or
take the ‘Kastom Rod’ - a bashed-out footpath around the island
that runs along the southern coastline.
You can experience barefoot luxury at The Moso Resort
where you’ll feel pleasantly isolated from the rest of the
world. Alternatively, the rustic Tranquillity Dive Resort with its
backpacker vibe might be appealing. Independent travellers will weather patterns; rain can fall heavily or in some cases not at
delight in The Watermark, a few self-catering cottages that let all. With no connection to the mainland, water is a precious
you indulge in the fantasy of living in paradise. Whatever your commodity. Livelihoods based around fishing and growing crops
decision, you’ll experience off-grid, eco-friendly living with a are impacted. Living traditional lifestyles can become a burden
genuine absence of greenwashing. as the cruel irony of those living the most organic of lifestyles are
Here, electricity is powered by the sun, rainwater is stored in the most profoundly impacted by climate change.
tanks, wastewater is treated with septic and rubbish is separated, Those below the water have challenges too. Once a common
composted or returned to the mainland for recycling. Locals and sight in the waters surrounding Moso, the much-revered dugong
guests alike embrace these practices, which help maintain the is becoming more difficult to locate in the Namoso Passage.
natural beauty of the island. What was once a luscious meadow of seagrass, the ideal
Of course the Moso life does not come without challenges. An feeding grounds for these docile giants, is now mere patches of
off-grid eco paradise sounds pretty on paper but harsh realities its former glory. The ongoing climate crisis has cruelly impacted
mean that the local Ni-Vans are vulnerable to unpredictable on the livelihoods of the dugong. Climate change is increasing

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