What's up, guys? Welcome back.
Right now we are deep off the grid in a mysterious place,
but here's the catch: we're not telling you where we are.
That's because we've collaborated
with Mercedes-Benz for a road trip in search of some old-school adventure....
no cell phone, no wi-fi,
just a paper map to guide us.
We'll be leaving you clues along the way, and
we'd love for you guys to guess where we are.
So, sit back and enjoy the ride. Let's go.
Let's go. And now the adventure begins.
Well, I'm excited for this vlog.
It's very different than normal because normally
we tell you where we are, and then we give you a bunch of facts
so that you can replicate the journey in your own time.
And this time, quite the opposite.
This island is so remote that in the 1800s it was used as penal colony.
In the 1800s, being sent to this remote island was akin to like a death sentence.
Turns out that there's no surf here,
and that's because this whole island is surrounded by a huge reef.
But the only way to get a real sense of it is by hopping in the air.
Let's go.
So because there's so few people here,
they lock the airport when there's a flight going on.
And they looked me outside of it.
As you can see I'm kind of going crazy.
So I took a little nap.
Now I'm working out to the amusement of the locals
looking at me like, "what is this guy doing?"
Don't judge.
Don't judge me.
Merci. Well, that was ridiculous.
So beautiful. What a beautiful island.
Anyways, adventure continues.
Right, well, we've driven for another couple of hours up the road and once again
the geography has changed drastically.
The earth here is super red,
and that's because there's a lot of nickel in the ground.
Mining nickel is actually the biggest part of the economy in this country.
We're going to go over the mountains,
get out to the last most far-flung
finger of the island and watch the sunset hopefully in a beautiful place.
We've gone from a dry lowlands over the mountains
to the lush eastern side of the island.
This whole road's been under construction, and we're way off the beaten path.
And it's just really beautiful. We're seeing the ecosystems change.
There's a ton of different micro climates, and this is one of the reasons
why there's more about diversity here per square kilometer than anywhere else in the world.
Guys, this is awesome. We're just walking along this little trail through the forest.
We have parked the car back there,
and we're heading towards this waterfall.
It's absolutely gorgeous.
We've got ferns and orchids, crystal-clear water down there.
Time to go for a swim.
Well, that was a beautiful swimming hole and a beautiful piece of jungle.
It's basically going right up against this mountain range here, which is running the whole length of the island.
The reason that this island has so much biodiversity is because of this mountain range.
A lot of these plants and animals date back to the time of Gondwana
when all the continents were one, and this was part of the Zealandia Formation.
In the 1770s, the British explorer James Cook, Captain James Cook, came to this island.
He saw these mountains and they reminded him of Scotland so he named it
big hint: after the Roman name for Scotland.
So, we've headed further down the road,
and it's time to eat.
This whole island is divided into tribal areas.
Here on this island there are essentially two types of tribes:
there are the mountain tribes and there are the coastal tribes.
Right now we're headed to have a bougna.
A bougna is basically like a big pit barbecue.
But in order to get onto the tribal land,
we're going to have to make a ceremonial offering
before we are allowed onto their property.
Should be pretty interesting.
Okay, so, we have actually found the place that we're going to be eating later,
but tribal custom is pretty strict, and
the way that we just arrived is not actually the right way to do it.
So, Mark has hopped in a car with a local dude
who's going to take us to the elusive Richard, our host.
I swear this is starting to sound more and more like something from Lost.
We're up here in the hills with the Dharma Project.
Okay, so, success! We found our guide.
He's going to introduce us to the president of the tribe.
This is going to put my French to the test
because I now have to formally ask the president of the tribe for permission to join them for a meal.
The president has welcomed us to the party. Apparently we did everything right.
I think that there was definitely some communication barriers with our French.
They understand that we're just curious travelers, and we're here to have a good time.
These ladies back here are getting to work on the food preparation.
It looks like they have some big kind of like banana leaves, and
they're taking the food and tying it up.
It's like a burrito, bro. I can wrap a burrito.
They wrap all of that stuff in the bananas and put it underground on embers to cook for a couple hours.
So it's time to eat. Looks super good.
Shrimp, crab, chicken, vegetables... wine.
French wine. Pretty good spread.
We just said goodbye. Such an awesome experience.
Everybody here is really, really cool, and they've made sure that we leave with tons of food.
So they're giving us a bunch of bananas.
As it began so it ends.
They gave us a ceremonial Manu, a nice little blanket and
also a little bit of cash for the road.
That was such an incredible experience, you guys.
Well that was an absolutely incredible afternoon.
Such a great feast with great people and a unique experience.
Before we left on this trip, this place was just a dot on the map,
and now we have come; we've explored it.
That was a real adventure, and we experienced some genuine hospitality.
You guys know where we are yet?
If you do, make sure you drop it in the comments section,
and if you don't, click on the link in the info box.
It's going to have a video where we show you where we are.
All right guys, big thanks to Mercedes-Benz for bringing us out here.
If you like the video, you know what to do: give it a thumbs- up,
share with your friends, subscribe to Vagabrothers for travel videos from all around the world.
And in the meantime, remember, stay curious, keep exploring, and we will see you guys on the road.
Peace