Here’s something a bit out there that’s a tad spooky, freakish and a little macabre. However, it’s worth a look to see how things were done in the past.
It’s a place called Skull Island – and you’ll see the rather obvious name in the photos below.
And I’m not talking about the King Kong movie either!
It’s a shrine to historical events that are now long gone and (thankfully) not coming back!
Anyway, if you’re staying at Munda in the New Georgia region in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands, you’re bound to make a visit here – otherwise called Nusa Kunda – located in Vona Vona Lagoon.
You might be able to fit a visit in after taking in a few Solomon Islands dive sites!
It’s a final resting place for human remains that were a product of the old headhunting days – where headhunting was a profession and Skull Island is the product of these guys raiding surrounding islands.
Thankfully, these days the locals are pretty friendly and the chances of joining the skulls is nil as this custom is long gone!
Skull Island is a sacred area and you’ll need to go with one of the locals (normally a village chief) so they can ask the spirits for permission to set foot here.
Wherever you are in the world, you do what the locals do and you’ll be just fine!
Apparently if this doesn’t happen, the spirits on the island won’t know that visitors are there to feed their friendly curiosity and they might put a curse on you.
I’m not really going to dispute that!
Skull Island Photos – Headhunter History
Yes, this place is out there. It’s not often that you see an open air grave when visiting a final resting place. It’s up there with the Bone Church in Portugal.
Skull Island contains the skulls of past chiefs and warriors, mainly from the 19th century. You’ll find these skulls scattered amongst large coral mounds, with some scatterings of ‘shell money’ in between the craniums.
When the missionaries came along from Europe, this cultural aspect of dealing with the dead pretty much stopped.
Look, I’m still around writing this post so I mustn’t have annoyed the spirits there!
I wasn’t game enough to spend the night camping here though!
Skull Island probably won’t make a cliched postcard anytime soon, but it’s worth a visit to get an appreciation of how past cultures deal with death.
[“source=thetraveltart”]
