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Witness / Attend in Pentecost Island
Naghol (Land Diving)
A long, rugged island in Vanuatu's Penama province, home of the Naghol land dive, the vine-jumping harvest ritual that inspired the modern bungee. Each Saturday from April to June, men leap head-first from tall wooden towers with only forest vines tied to their ankles, in villages in the island's south.
No organizer, no ticket office. This is a living tradition, and the way in is simply to be there; guides get you inside it.
Dates & details verified against: National tourism board ↗
Why here
Naghol, the land dive of Pentecost Island, is the ritual that gave the world the bungee jump, except here there is no elastic and no safety line. Through the yam harvest season, from April to June, the men of southern Pentecost build tall wooden towers on a cleared hillside, sometimes 20 to 30 metres high, and lash two forest vines to each diver's ankles. One by one they climb the platforms, clap and call to the crowd below, then throw themselves head-first at the ground so that the vines snap taut and their shoulders or hair just brush the freshly tilled earth, an offering meant to ensure a good yam crop and to prove a young man's courage. The whole village turns out, women and children singing and stamping at the base of the tower, and each dive is a genuine risk of life taken by choice. Witnessing it is one of the most extraordinary things a traveller can see in the Pacific: not a show staged for tourists but a living rite of the community, held on its own land on its own terms.
Best months
Naghol runs only on Saturdays during the harvest season, roughly April to June, and the exact dates are set by the villages and published each year by the Vanuatu Tourism Office; the 2026 season runs Saturdays from 4 April to 27 June. Towers are rebuilt through the season and the later jumps, when the vines and timber have been tested, are often considered the finest. Only men and boys of the community dive, and it is forbidden for visitors to take part. Weather and village decisions can move or cancel a given Saturday, so treat dates as firm only close to the day.
Getting there & around
There is no ticket office and no tour company that owns the event; access is arranged through the villages, usually via a Port Vila or Luganville travel agent, a local guesthouse, or a light-aircraft day tour that flies in for a jump. Reach Pentecost by a small plane from Port Vila or Luganville to the Lonorore or Sara airstrips, then a vehicle or boat to the southern villages where the towers stand. Accommodation is basic bush guesthouses and places are very limited during the season, so arrange the whole trip well ahead. A village fee is charged to watch, which supports the community and the ceremony; pay it and follow your host's instructions on where to stand and what may be photographed.
Skill levels: beginner
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