GIANT BANYAN TREE

Lonely Planet travel guide refers to it as the world's largst living organism. I'm pretty sure that's not true. It's possible that it's the world's largest tree, and even more likely that it's the largest one in Vanuatu, but that's not a fair description either since it's more like a series of trees. Banyan trees are hard to describe - they grow up and out, then branches come down, vines are all around, it's impossible to see where the tree begins or ends, and it's just all jumbled like that.

This giant banyan is yet one more reason why Tanna Island kicks ass. Located on private property, the locals charge 200vt for tourists, but free for PCV's. The tree is about a 40 minute hike north-east from Matt's house, which is a 45 minute hike east from my house in Lowkatai. If you are using Google Earth to check out the island I'm not sure if you would be able to differentiate which tree is which, but it is located at the beginning of a valley several kilometers east and slightly north of the factory. A discerning eye might be able to detect the canopy - but the real beauty of the banyan tree lies beneath. You can climb through the vines and be totally encased in the tree's network to branches. Climbing the tree is like a jungle-gym paradise - very easy and tons of places to go, every branch is super strong and after you climb up you might be able to find a good vine to slide right back down.

There is no good way to capture the enormity of this tree with the lens I have on my Canon G3. This shot is from in the valley on the west side of the tree. There is a rotting tree trunk laying across the valley, just above a slight stream. I was able to shimmy back several meters to get as much as possible, but it's also important to note that while the tree goes from left to right in this photo, it also goes straight back in five other directions as well. That's Jeff standing in the bottom right corner raising his arms.