The Vaka Taumako Project is trying to perserve a way of life.
Located in Taumako, a village in the eastern Solomon Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, this community is arguably the last in the world to keep the traditional wayfinding and open ocean voyaging canoe tradition alive. They have launched an Indigogo with the help of an anthropologist to build another canoe and keep their knowledge alive.
The vessel in the video is a traditional vaka, a voyaging canoe built by hand using only sustainable local natural materials. Using precise navigational skills based on a comprehensive system of wind, waves and stars, these vaka are sailed for great distances without the use of any modern technology. The maritime knowledge of Taumako Polynesians is quite possibly the only fully authentic Polynesian voyaging tradition still alive in the entire Pacific Island community, according to their Indigogo web page.
Find out how you can help keep Polynesian voyaging culture alive and donate to the project here.
