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Munda

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New Georgia's biggest settlement, on Munda Point above the Roviana Lagoon, where a runway the Japanese opened in December 1942 now has flights to Brisbane.

Fly to Munda All of Solomon Islands
Arrival
Munda International · MUA
To the town
A few minutes on foot from the terminal
Private jets
Customs on the field; daylight hours
Best time
May to October

The city

Roviana, and a wartime runway.

Munda sits at the point where New Georgia meets the Roviana Lagoon. The lagoon villages were once home to the most notorious headhunters in the region, and at Roviana Lavata the swimmer Alick Wickham perfected the taptapala stroke. Boats leave the jetty for the islands of Vona Vona and for the surf at Lola, about eleven kilometres off.

Japanese troops began clearing the airfield in November 1942 and had it open by 1 December. American forces took the high ground around it on 5 August 1943, and their first aircraft landed nine days later. Pieces of that fighting are still lying about: a Stuart tank, gun batteries at Enoghai and above the strip, and the Kashi Maru, shallow enough to snorkel. A new international terminal opened in 2023.

  • Skull Island A shrine near the mouth of Vona Vona Lagoon holding the skulls of Roviana chiefs and warriors, beside an altar to the fishing gods.
  • Peter Joseph WWII Museum A private collection of wartime relics, close enough to the airport to reach on foot.
  • Tetepare Some 118 square kilometres of rainforest and reef with nobody living on it. Visitors sleep in traditional leaf houses.

Arriving

Straight in from Brisbane.

Munda's asphalt runway is the second biggest in the Solomons, repaired with New Zealand money in 2013 and given an international terminal ten years later. The town lies right beside it.

Business & First Class Airline flights Solomon Airlines flies to Brisbane and to Honiara, an hour away, with Dash 8 and Twin Otter hops to Gizo (fifteen minutes), Seghe and the smaller strips of the west. Business & First fares Private Jet Private flights Munda is a port of entry, so a jet arriving from abroad can clear customs here and take on jet fuel. A handler is not compulsory. The field is listed as open from sunrise to sunset only. Charter a jet
Approximate flying time by midsize jet
  • Brisbane 3 h 10
  • Nadi 3 h 30
  • Sydney 4 h 05
  • Singapore 8 h 05 long-range jet
  • Los Angeles 13 h 10 long-range jet

When to go

May to October.

Munda gets about three and a half metres of rain a year, falling in every month: 230 mm in October at the least, over 400 in January. The heat barely moves from thirty degrees, and the sea from 28 to 30. Tourism Solomons calls May to October the dry season and the easiest time to come.

  1. 31° J 411 30°
  2. 31° F 361 30°
  3. 31° M 369 30°
  4. 31° A 291 30°
  5. 30° M 259 29°
  6. 29° J 235 29°
  7. 30° J 346 28°
  8. 30° A 262 28°
  9. 31° S 259 28°
  10. 31° O 230 29°
  11. 31° N 239 29°
  12. 31° D 289 30°
Best months weather2travel.com, long-term averages

Elsewhere in Solomon Islands

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All of Solomon Islands

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Business & First Private Jet