Click HERE for a map of Guadalcanal Group
Guadalcanal is the largest of the
Solomon Islands, and is where the capital, Honiara, and the
international Ariport, is located. There are a number of smaller
islands around Guadalcanal that are included in this area,
including Tavanipupu, Vulelua, Nughu, Korosahalu and Marau
Sound.
Discovered by the Spanish in 1568,
and named after the hometown of some of the expedition members, it
is more famous in recent years because of the bitter fighting
during World War II between American and Japanese soldiers.
After driving out the US from the
Phillippines, the British from British Malaya and the Dutch from
the East Indies, the Japanese expanded in the region and in May
1942, the Japanese Navy landed on Guadalcanal, and started to build
an airfield and other infrastructure. Spotted by the allied
aerial reconnaissance, the US Marines landed in August 1942, taking
the Japanese by surprise and taking the airfield with relative
ease. The US troops quickly completed the airfield for their
own use and named it Henderson Field, after a downed US aviator
from the recent Battle of Midway. But the retreating Japanese
didn't leave the island and spent the next 6 months fighting
bitterly to try to regain control. During that time, the hard
fighting, jungle diseases and lack of supplies, both sides had
heavy losses. It became one of the bloodiest campaigns of the
war in the Pacific, and so many American and Japanese ships were
sunk around the Solomon Islands, that is is known as Ironbottom
Sound! The Japanese finally abandoned hope of retaking the
island, and on January 15th, 1943, they were finally driven from
the Islands.
After the war, Honiara was made the
new capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate, and in
1952, the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific was moved from
Fiji to Honiara. Henderson Field Airfield was improved and
expanded, and is now the International Airport gateway to the
Solomons.
After a short period of civil
unrest on the island of Guadalcanal in the late 1990's,
the Solomon Islands is now a peaceful Pacific paradise
Probably the most prominent UK
related event of recent times, was a visit to Tavanipupu Private Island
Resort, where Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge,
stayed there on their 2012 South Pacific Tour representing the
Queen as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
There aren't any big name 5 star
resort in the Solomon Islands, but there are an increasing number
of small, personal properties that have upgraded and modernised, to
offer pleasant and well equipped rooms and bungalows, in a tropical
paradise haven. Accommodation standards are being improved
all the time, so are not as basic as some would expect.
We have tried to list as many
properties that we think are of reasonable quality, though as we
have said, they could not be graded as 4 or 5 stars by European or
American standards.
The Solomon Islanders, being spread
around a collection of lots of smaller inhabited islands, don't
always find it easy to get basic supplies or little luxuries, and
really appreciate it when visitors bring small gifts with them. If
visiting islands and areas away from the main towns, think about
taking a few things with you t donate. The children are always
pleased to receive school supplies, t-shirts, dresses, small toys,
(not sweets as dental care can be an issue), and the communities
are always grateful for school supplies, practical adult clothing,
reading glasses and basic medical supplies, (pain killers, insect
bite cream/spray, plasters, bandages, gauze, adhesive dressing
tape, Steristrips, antiseptic wash, antihistamines, electrolyte
drink powder (for diarrhoea) disposable gloves, antibiotics, etc).
If you do take some village gifts with you, this will leave
some space in your suitcase to take some traditional wood carvings
and souvenirs home with you, thereby also helping the communities
being self-sustaining.