Kanaks and café au lait, blackbirding and barrier reefs, Melanesian massacres and menus du jour-New Caledonia exemplifies that one person’s bread is another person’s pain. Lt’s still very much a colony of France, and the motherland has sent in the marines more than once to keep the local population from rioting. Political unrest aside, New Caledonoa attracts and tourists who flock to experience the Pacific with a taste of France.
May to October, to avoid the cyclones and mosquitoes
Canoeing down a river by moonlight through a drowned forest in Parc de la Riviere Bleue Watching the sun set across a tranquil lagoon from anywhere along Ouvea’s white-sand beach Sailing in the glittering bay around lle des Pins Delving into the architectural masterpiece that is Noumea’s Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre Scuba-diving the world’s second-largest reef Discovering the tiny raised atoll of tiga with deserted beaches and great diving
Read Jean-Marie Tjibao’s Kanake-the Melanesian Way, an insight into Kanak culture featuring colour photographs, poems and legends
Listen to OK! Ryos, a Mare band known for their harmonies and soaring vocals-try Wa Coco, their ‘best of’
Watch Le Bal du Gouverneur, a romance set in 1950s New Caledonia
Eat bougna, a delicious combination of taro, yam, sweet potato, banana, and pieces of chicken, crab or lobster cooked in banana leaves in a ground oven
Drink kava from private houses called nakamal
Kanaks traditionally refer to themselves as Ti-Va-Ouere (‘Brothers of the Earth’)
Dispossessed Kanak community; French tourists in abundance; idyllic grass huts on the beach; colonial strife; stunning beaches; clan societies
New Caledonia’s economy centres around mining and metallurgy; cricket has been the favourite sport of Kanak women since the missionaries introduced it to the Loyalty lslanders in the 1850s
Traditionally, the Kanaks had a very sensible relationship with the environment, considering it their garde-manger (food safe).This contrasts greatly with modern-day attitudes and practices. Mining, smelting, urbanization around Noumea, bushfires and feral cast and dogs are the predominant dangers to nature in New Caledonia.