Moso Island is an island in Vanuatu

Vanuatu

Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

, in Shefa Province

Shefa Province

Shefa is a province of Vanuatu, including the islands of Epi and Efate and the Shepherd Islands. The name Shefa is derived from the initial letters of Shepherd and Efate. It has a population of 45,280 people and an area of 1,455 km²...

. Along with Lelepa

Lelepa

Situated by the sea, Lelepa is a village on the north central coast of Savai'i island in Samoa.The village is part of the electoral constituency Gaga'emauga III which forms part of the larger political district of Gaga'emauga....

 Island, it creates the harbour at north Efate

Éfaté

Efate is an island in the Agean Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in The Republic of Maliki. It is also known as Île Vate. It is the most populous island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanuatu's third largest island. Most inhabitants of Efate live in Port Vila, the national...

 known as Port Havannah

Port Havannah

Port Havannah is a city on Efate Island in Vanuatu....

. This harbour was a focal point during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, with many troops stationed there, including posts on Moso itself. Today, small tokens of the soldiers' presence can still be seen on Moso.

History

Seven villages were originally scattered throughout Moso Island until missionaries facilitated their formation into one coastal village, Sunae. This community was divided in two in the early 1990s and some people split from Sunae, forming Tassirki village on central Moso.

Tourism

Tassiriki community, in conjunction with Wan Smolbag Theatre

Wan Smolbag Theatre

Wan Smolbag Theatre was established in Port Vila, Vanuatu in 1989. It began as an amateur theatre group with 15 voluntary actors. Since that time WSB has established a national and regional reputation as a development theatre organisation that produces and delivers locally-produced, high quality...

, is the base for a turtle monitoring programme on northwestern Efate. The project is run throughout Vanuatu with the goal of preserving the endangered turtle species found in the Pacific. The community operates a bungalow that accommodates volunteers who stay for short-term periods assisting the locals with the turtle monitoring programme.

Sunae community is attempting to initiate a small tour business to the eastern part of the island as part of a community development project. This part of the island is where parts of Les Aventuriers de Koh-Lanta, the French version of the Survivor

Survivor (TV series)

Survivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...

 TV series, were filmed.

Tranquility Dive and Resort is a commercial business run from the western part of the island and is well known for its dive sites.

Demographics

There are approximately 300-400 ni-Vanuatu

Ni-Vanuatu

Ni-Vanuatu is a demonym used to refer to all Melanesian ethnicities originating in Vanuatu.It also refers, more generally, to nationals and citizens of Vanuatu, whatever their ethnicity....

inhabitants on Moso, the majority in Tassirki village.

Economy

Fishing, subsistence agriculture and tourism make up the economy of Moso. People most frequently fish from the traditional outrigger canoes both during the day and night.