The daily emails from Lance in Vanuatu.

So our neighbour keeps chickens and ducks, and one day a drake (Bislama: "dukduk") flew over the fence into our yard. We asked the neighbour about it and she said she wasn't bothered - if it didn't come home by itself we could catch it and return it at our convenience. However he seemed...

Last weekend our gardener asked for some green coconuts to take home for his pikininis (children) to drink. I held the ladder for him since the ground was uneven, and I expected him to do the same as I have done in the past - select a few likely-looking specimens from the bunches hanging from...

A young man wearing a turban touched down at the Paris Airport on Saturday night of the weekend before last. Shortly after, on his way into the city on the airport-city train, he was mugged by two thugs and had his bags stolen... Including his money and his passport. This distant...

Continuing our series, today you get #3 and #4 of the reasons I like living in Vanuatu. RECAP: #1 was the people, #2 was the freedom... #3 is the whole "South seas tropical island" thing. Vanuatu has some spectacular scenery. Most of it is close to the ocean — it's a collection of 83...

Yes, the Tongan volcanic eruption, although a long way from Vanuatu, had an effect. The tsunami alert went out, and places on the edges of the Pacific Ocean like Japan and California and South America had some problems when it finally reached them. So what was it like here in a...

So as the world in general devolves into a 1984-style scenario, in 2022 many of you will be looking around the globe for places where sanity prevails. I'd suggest (did you doubt it?) that Vanuatu is one of the places you should consider. I've lived here over 5 years now, and in that time...

Last week I needed to get to town to pick up my car from the mechanic. Because we live out of town on a road that goes nowhere past us except to a few farms, it's not exactly a main highway! In fact, it's frequently happens that not one vehicle goes past in several hours. And because...

You may recall we don't live right in Port Vila, but on the outskirts, at the end of a long road that past us, goes only to farms. I't been like this for years. Once Adeline and I realised back in 1975 that we did not HAVE to live in a city to conduct our business, we have always chosen to...

Many of my clients have found more opportunity and more freedom — in Vanuatu. The Republic of Vanuatu is not on many people’s radar. Neither should it be: it's not for everyone. But for a select few, this country is a perfect fit. Easy residency. No income taxes (personal or corporate!)....

Yes, Vanuatu is in the latitude where cyclones (hurricanes) happen. The first one of the season came by this week. It did not pass over us, although it travelled the length of our neighbouring country New Caledonia, about 450 kilometres from Port Vila. This one was only Category 2, so the...