Friday 18 December 2009

Head-Hunters and UFO's ~ The truth is waiting for you....

Lets get back to SolSurfing and the exploration of a very unique and mystical string of islands and cultures.
Lets go Soul Surfing through the pacific....

One of the main reasons why The Solomon's are still virtually unexplored is because it is still shrouded in mystery. Take for example The Solomon Island Mysteries where the author Marius Boirayon recounts some of the unexplainable yet common paranormal activity in the Solomon's.

These dimensional portals exist (think 11:11), and are part of life/culture in the Solomon Islands. But do Head-hunters still exist? Are you intrepid and adventurous enough to find out? Are you prepared to leave your home and family, your loves and comforts to an edge that you may not return from, are you ready to LEAP into another paradigm?

A call from the headhunters 

January 4, 2009 Source: The Sun-Herald

Fish-eye view ... the Solomon Islands has sublime snorkelling and diving sites.
Fish-eye view ... the Solomon Islands has sublime snorkelling and diving sites. Photo: Jessica Hromas

Graham Simmons discovers a dark history among these beautiful islands in the Pacific.


"It was bad karma to have picked up a skull on Kundu Hite Island and be photographed holding it. Even worse was the fact that I got my companions to do the same. It was only later that the consequences were apparent - and in a manner quite unexpected.

The skull belonged to a Roviana tribesman, one of a band of former cannibals who used to row their big tomoko (war canoes) as far as Ghizo, Choiseul and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands on headhunting raids. The skulls of the tribe's chiefs and warriors now adorn a ceremonial mound on Kundu Hite ("Skull Island"), just offshore from Parara Island, which fringes the super-scenic Vona Vona Lagoon.


Our boat driver and guide, Jeff Hilaha, explains a little about the origins of the skull mound. "The chief and the priest used to gather on this island to bless the fishermen and warriors before their fishing trips and headhunting raids," he says, pointing to a natural altar. "After the raids, they buried the skulls so as to 'capture' some of the 'mana' of their victims."

From Kundu Hite we call in at Mandou village on Parara Island.

Here I am privileged to meet Chief Eddie. In his hand-woven pandanus-leaf toropai (sun-shade) and wearing a big bandana over a shell-ring necklace, he is a striking figure.

For many years Chief Eddie was the caretaker on Skull Island. When an earthquake and tsunami struck the Solomon Islands with devastating force in April 2007, it also hit Skull Island and he was forced to flee for his life to Parara Island. There he remains, scared another big tsunami might strike.

The gods do not appear to have been kind to the Solomon Islands. Before the tsunami, an ethnic conflict between villagers from neighbouring islands escalated into a disastrous civil war from 1999 to 2003. Peace was restored only with the intervention of Australian troops.

But with the return of peace and post-tsunami reconstruction, visitors have never had it so good. Tourist numbers are low and accommodation facilities are low-key but of excellent standard. Most travellers make a beeline for Western Province, in particular Ghizo Island and the Vona Vona and Marovo lagoons, where the marine life is at its best.

In Vona Vona Lagoon, dolphins cavort alongside our boat as though we are long-lost cousins. Further east, some of the best snorkelling and diving in the whole of the Solomons can be had just off Kundukundu Nomana Island. Here, where a wall drops more than a kilometre to the ocean floor, I don a snorkel and mask to check out the marine life, and the colours of the kaleidoscopic swarms of fish are astonishing in their variety.

Later, it's time to unwind at Zipolo Habu Resort on Vona Vona Lagoon's Lola Island, where Joe and Lisa Entrikin welcome divers, snorkellers and fishers from across the planet. The bill of fare, including sumptuous buffets of fresh crayfish and mudcrabs, cannot be faulted. The bill of booze (the excellent Sol Brew lager) is pretty good, too.

But later that night, I have a disturbing dream. A tribal elder appears and reprimands me for my disrespect in picking up one of the skulls. First thing the next morning, I erase all the skull-holding photos, hoping this will appease those guarding the spirits of the dead.

Later I learn that the Roviana word for photograph, maqomaqo, is the same as the word for soul. Anthropologist Chris Wright says that to the Roviana people "a photo is a post-mortem memorial, a monument and an object that, in its immanence, achieves or conjures up an 'impossible' presence." My guilt at having inadvertently tried to "capture the soul" of a dead warrior soon turns into remorse.

A 20-minute high-speed boat ride takes us kicking and screaming from Zipolo Habu Resort to Munda jetty - surely the world's only ferry wharf within easy walking distance of an airport - for the trip back to Honiara and Brisbane"

Getting there: Virgin Pacific, and Solomon Airlines
Staying there: SolSurf Guest House www.surfingsolomonislands.com
More information: See www.visit solomons.com.sb.

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