Spend a day on one of many secluded beaches
Shop for organic products at the local markets
This small village community was created in 1997 when Joel Jimmy Amos, wife Elizabeth, their children Edmond, Sabeth and Jimmy, with other close members of the family left the main village at Ekipe, about one kilometre North of Bethel Village, to start their own small community.
The small tourist complex, built to create the minimum of intrusion into the Coastvillager's daily lives, is the result of a vision, by Joel, the community leader to bring supplementary income into the village, to augment the traditional income derived from the cultivation and sale of fruit and vegetables at the market place in Port Vila. The women of the community travel to Port Vila on the back of an open truck, piled high with their produce, in all weather; be it rain or shine. The market is open 24 hours a day from Monday to Saturday. The women sleep on their traditional palm frond sleeping mats, laid on the concrete floor, when they can. They stay for two or three days, then a changeover group of women travel from the village to the market.
In 1998, to serve as a lunch stop for round island tours, the community built, out of local material, the uniquely designed restaurant around a large rainforest tree, which was left to grow out through the roof. In March 2002 a tourist on one of the island tours that stopped here, took an interest in the village, and after discussions with the village leader, agreed to help the community to achieve its goal of building a small group of cabins for guests to stay and take part in village life.
It took over two hard years from January 2003, when building commenced, until March 2005, to complete the cabins and ancillary buildings.
Read about Bethel Village, view our photo gallery or the pricing information.