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EnezGreen » Îles & Archipels » New Caledonia » Kanua Tera Ecolodge Hotel Yaté
New Caledonia

Kanua Tera Ecolodge Hotel Yaté

Pacific Ocean

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Eco lodge & Eco hotel

With the opening of the Kanua Tera eco-lodge, the first of its kind in the territory, New Caledonia is concretely embarking on the way to sustainable tourism.

  • Environment

  • Sustainable policy

  • Service quality

A hotel integrated in the landscape

The Kanua Tera was built like a Melanesian village using local materials and ancestral techniques. It also complies with the principles of biological architecture.

The Kanua Tera: a model of sustainable tourism

An impressive traditional hut accommodates the lobby, the reception, the bar and the restaurant. The hotel has a total of 18 bungalows, including 14 new maisonettes and 4 traditional Kanak bungalows. The Ka Mâ (meaning ‘under the shadow of a banyan tree’) restaurant serves local dishes and seafood plateaus are made available by local fishermen upon request. Created and managed by the SOH, the Kuana Tera eco-lodge applies the concepts of ‘sustainable tourism’. To maintain a 3-star hotel facility in a preserved and wild nature, vehicles are not allowed on the site and there is no air-conditioning. Works and land clearing have been limited to a strict minimum and a replanting of the land along the lagoon – which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site – with endemic species has been conducted under the supervision of the Environment Directorate. In the same line of thought, waste water is disposed through a lagooning system, organic wastes are composted or recycled and finally, priority is given to the use of non-toxic materials.

Management of the eco-lodge by the tribe

Besides the efforts to preserve the remarkable site where the hotel is implanted, the local traditions and customs are respected. Relationships are particularly tense between some communities in the Grand Sud (Great South) region and Val Inco, the chemical plant for the treatment of nickel. And the setting up of the eco-lodge is a reminder that the plant is not the only employment provider and that tourism is a promising sector. The Kanua Tera is a probing example, providing employment to 18 people from the three tribes in Yate. Apart from being involved in construction works, the provision of materials, vegetable and fruit garden cultivation and the maintenance of the hotel, local craftsmen are also employed as guides by the hotel. Excursions on offer focus on making the Melanesian culture more accessible to visitors with hikes, fishing, diving or kayak outings, guided visits to ‘forbidden’ places (sacred places for the tribe) and also visits to the craft market of Yate. However, jet ski facilities should be made available in the near future, which doesn’t fit with the global approach of the eco-lodge, even if all the outings will be supervised and led by a state-certified instructor.

Efforts to open up the Great South

Renovation and extension works at the Kanua Tera have taken two years and cost nearly 600 million French Pacific Francs, financed in part by the owners, the Attiti family, the SOH, the South Province and the Institute for Participation of New Caledonia. This substantial investment is, however, legitimate to ensure the long-term viability of an economic activity which contributes not only to the opening up of the Grand Sud and the sharing of added value, but also to the reduction of the urban migration of tribes.

A fantastic place to practice sustainable sea activities

Along a wild small bay with a very nice sandy beach , the Kanua Tera remains at a strategic place for those who are delighted by all kind of sea nature activities.

Les Aiguilles de Prony

If you check on a map, it appears that the hotel is very close or example by sea from what is considered by professional divers as the best Caledonian diving spot: Les Aiguilles de Prony.

This worldwide geological particularism allows free and bottle divers to discover enormous stalagmites which are created by chemical precipitation at places where thermal fresh water and sea water mixed . Marine life around this 25 meters high stalagmites is great and atmosphere is unique. If you consider that the famous Hollywood filmmaker Luc Besson came to this place for his film Atlantis, you will understand that swimming or diving around this place can be a must for those who are in love with astonished undersea pictures.

The Humpback whales’ passage

Another particularism of this location is the annual visit made by inhabitants of the Antarctic: the Humpback whales during the austral winter time, from July until middle September. Whales come, visit and stay in the Prony Bay and surroundings since the old times. These cetaceans were completely part of the Kanaks life until a short time ago. We can still find sculptures or drawings representing them at different places in the traditional fares. The Humpback Whales leave the Antarctic visit and stay in different islands of the South Pacific where they give birth. This means that Humpbacks whales are able to appear at a swimming distance of the Kanua Tera’s shore. You can also observe them from the around  mountains summits or better from the deck of a renting boat that you can easily book.

If you go to Prony’s Bay, don’t forget to visit the old village which was in the old time a place where prisoners in charge of woodcutting were living. Touching place!

The Kanua Tera’s shore can also be the starting point of very nice kayaking trips along the coast. You can rent the canoes directly at the beach’s hut of the Ecolodge. If whales are not far, this is also an opportunity to approach them in a sustainable way.

KANUA TERA ecolodge

Pricing (from) - 156.00 €

Standard rate for two persons breakfast included

Opening period - All year round

Eco lodge & Eco hotel, key-features

An exceptional site ★

Hidden among a forest of Cook pines (Araucaria columnaris) by the sea, the establishment is ideally located between the Merlet reserve and the Madeleine waterfalls. An hour and a half from Noumea, the eco-lodge has all it takes to please travellers craving for authenticity as well as an immersion in nature and in the Kanak culture. Created in 1997, the Kanua ecolodge in Port Boisé has transformed into a three-star hotel over time. The Attiti family has been able to materialize this evolution and its dream of a return to the roots thanks to the ‘Société Océanienne d’hôtellerie’ (SOH, Oceanian hotel company). The Kanua Tera is more than just a hotel and represents above all the legacy of the elders of the Attiti clan, who are the owners of the land in the traditional cadastre. The totem sitting imposingly at the entrance is a reminder of this legacy, representing at the same time the Attiti family, now a shareholder of the project, and the Notou pigeon, a large endemic bird species of New Caledonia which lives in the forest of Port Boisé.

A successful environmental initiative ★★

Kanua Tera was built in the manner of a Melanesian village with local materials using ancestral techniques and following the principles of bio-architecture.

No car is allowed on site and generators and air conditioning are banned in order to ensure calm customers like jet skis.

The work and land clearing have been reduced to a minimum and soil revegetation with native species was carried out along the lagoon.

Wastewater is discharged by a lagoon system, organic waste is composted or recycled and finally non-toxic materials are preferred.

The hotel employs a dozen people from the tribes of Yate and works with local artisans, both in terms of construction, supply of materials, culture of the vegetable garden and orchard, as the maintenance of the establishment or fishing but also with local tour guides.

The menus served at the restaurant Ma Ka enhance the flavors, fruits and local vegetables and allow to enjoy seafood and fish caught that day by the fishermen of the village.

Outstanding services ★★

The restaurant offers varied menus mixing French cuisine and specialties Kanak Pacific Islands. Catch of the day and fresh fruits and vegetables are among the main dishes.

Many activities are offered to discover the region, particularly in tribal life.

The equipment flippers, masks, snorkel is offered to hotel guests.

The ecolodge is located near the Bay of Prony, where dive sites are among the most famous of the archipelago and where whale watching is possible from July to September.

Hiking kayaking are available from the Terra Kanua the beach. Besides the surprising beauty of the place, kayakers enjoy relaxing on the water; any motor vehicle being banned within and close to the eco-lodge.

Galleries Photos

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