Name: Tanna Lava View Bungalows
Address: Iskaka Village, Tanna Island, Tanna Island, Tanna Island, 678125, Vanuatu
Rating: 8

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Tanna Airport

Tanna Lava View Bungalows

Tanna Island

The bungalow was very beautiful and traditional relying on solar panels for the power. The bungalow had a balcony with a fantastic view of the volcano. 

Daniel was very welcoming and friendly. He was very happy to help arrange some tours as well as transfers to and from the airport. Daniel provides tasty traditional homemade breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday - superb!

Would highly recommend these bungalows if you are looking for once in a lifetime experience with fantastic hospitality, just make sure you take lots of cash and arrange transport as it is very rural with no local shops or restaurants.

Fantastic Experience

Stayed here for one night with my parents and thoroughly grateful for the experience. Daniel and his family were very welcoming and the accomodation is as described. The view from the treehouse is wonderful. For those who like a bit of adventure and camping, this is perfect. The opportunity to stay in a village is one that anyone interested in Vanuatu culture should do. Thanks again to Isaka village for their hospitality. 

Authentic experience 

Daniel and his wife are very friendly and try their best to make you feel at home. The bungalow has a great view of mount Yasur. The rooms are fairly well equipped, though do not expect great luxury. 

The place is ideal for anyone wanting a taste of traditional Vanuatu village life. However, keep in mind, Isaka village is quite remote and you will need to arrange for transport to get out of the village. You will not find any restaurants and shops nearby. If you are not comfortable with living on the basics, I would not recommend this place. 

Nice and friendly host but location can be a challenge 

We stayed 3 nights at Lava View Bungalows. The place is great, lost in the forest in the village of Isaka. The welcome is very warm! Daniel offers many activities (waterfall, hot springs, large banyan, ballad, custom dances with the village, weaving, cooking, traditional kava, "sledge" on the volcano ...), and the rates are reasonable for Tanna ! 

There are 4 bungalows, we stayed in 2 bungalows (those in the trees, 10m and 20m high, overlooking the volcano!), It was magical!! However, I recommend to families or older people to choose the bungalows on the ground (Daniel just finished building a beautiful bungalow with a balcony overlooking the volcano). There is no hot water (obviously), but a shower and functioning toilets. The meals are good and delicious breakfasts! The beds are comfortable, and there is electricity in the bungalows. 

Lava View was strongly affected by the cyclone Pam ... staying there will help this family to rebuild everything, thanks to the money raised. The bungalows have slightly changed then (see photos), but Daniel is working to restore everything. 
Daniel, his family and his village have been incredibly kind and welcoming with us, we will never forget this experience!

Great experience!

It is difficult to access any of the usual tourist sites on this side of Tanna from this accommodation. 
Any trip will cost AUD50 (vt 4000) from here. But to complicate it they do not have  a car in the village. They use the "taxi" from the village next door - which may or may not be booked already.
The accommdation and meals are also more expensive than others in the area, despite its difficicult location.

There are no proper roads to access the village which is km's up steep muddy tracks and across creek crossings. If there is any decent rain people get stuck here.

Stay at one of the places across the road from the volcano or at one of the places near a beach on this side of Tanna. 

We moved from here to Yasur view. That meant we were able access the volcano 3 times with no additional taxi fees. We were also able to go up the volcano on a dawn tour. It was also much easier accessing Port Resolution - we went there twice.

Stay at one of thr places across the road from the 



Do not stay here

We are a group of 10 (6 adults, 2 students and 2 small children) who travelled to Tanna recently.  Originally communication with Daniel the owner was very good 3 months ago.  The week before travel however all my confirmation phone calls and emails were not returned or answered.  We were picked up from the airport by 2 trucks and all of our luggage plus another guest were on our way.  We passed Daniel on the way to town and he stopped us and asked the drivers to wait for him in town (without explanation to us) we had 2 very full vehicles and we didnt think we could have fitted any one else or any other luggage in.  We waited in the heat for 1 hour and I rang Daniel to see how much longer he would be - I was told 10 minutes.  In the meantime we were approached by another person who offered us his accomodation right near the volcano.  (in hindsight and after visiting his property we should have jumped at the opportunity to have stayed there).  I rang Daniel after another 30 minutes and told him if we didnt go to his property soon we would find somewhere else to stay.  He immediately rang his drivers and told them to take us to Lavaview now.  When we finally got there and Daniels wife told us where to stay.  We took the treehouse as we were a couple and it only had a double bed in it.  The families had to walk about 100m up a pathway and over a barbed wire fence to get to their bungalows.  There were tree stumps set up to help get over the fence and next to that the fence was pushed down to step over barbed wire.  The other guest who had traveled with us did not have any bed avail.  We were initially told that they would be no problem accommodating the 10 of us.  As it turned out we were a bed short as well - just as well 2 of the kids were small and could sleep with their parents.  There were no solar lights - only candles in the bungalows.  There was solar lights in the treehouse however they did not work when it was time for bed.  Lucky the families had torches to travel to and from the restaurant and the toilet as their was no light up the very dark path to the bungalows.  There was a toilet at the bungalows however it had no walls so totally inappropriate for families.  There was one toilet only at the treehouse base for the use of all 12 occupants of the premises  (there were 2 other guests there at the same time as us).  There was no water to wash your hands with and no soap.  The water was up near the restaurant.  There was no water or soap in the shower room either  The restaurant was very small and did not have enough chairs for us all to sit at.  The food was nice however cold.  Daniel finally turned up after we had been sorted into our rooms (which we did ourselves).  We told him how unhappy we were to have been kept waiting for him for an hour and a half in the hot sun in the heat of the day with 2 small children.  He didnt seem to care and offered us no explanation, just that he had to do some things.  He arranged for breakfast at 8am, a custom dance at 830 (which I told him was unnecessary as we all lived in Vanuatu and had seen quite a few dances) he told us Tanna was different so we agreed to see them.  We had hired a car to take us to our next accom and that was due to pick us up at 9am the following morning.  We were surprised that only 1 car was coming for us as we had 10 people plus all our luggage.  At 845 the next morning Daniels wife came and told us that the dancers were ready and it would be 1000 vatu each.  No cost was ever mentioned to us and we had already been overcharged with transfers and room rates as per what was originally quoted.  We said we would not be paying and Daniel had been insistant that we see it.  We did not see them.  Transport still had not arrived at 950 and we had been unable to contact Daniel by phone.  He arrived shortly after and said the transport was on its way.  We only had the truck until 2pm as it then had another pick up.  I felt sorry for the 2 other guests that were there - they had been waiting since 8am for a pickup that Daniel had promised them.  Daniels attitude for the complete stay was horrendous.  We all live in Vanuatu and we all know how things work here however this was not good on any level.  I would certainly not recommend any person to stay here.

Tanna Lava View Bungalows

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