Tongoa Island is an inhabited island in

Shefa Province Shefa is one of the six provinces of Vanuatu, located in the center of the country and including the islands of Epi and Efate and the Shepherd Islands. The province's name is derived from the initial letters of SHepherd and EFAte. It has a popula ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

in the Pacific Ocean.UNEP Islands Directory
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Geography

Tongoa is the largest island of

Shepherd Islands The Shepherd Islands (coordinates ) are a group of islands lying between the larger islands of Epi and Éfaté, in the Shefa province of Vanuatu. The aggregate land area is . They were named by Captain Cook after Anthony Shepherd, a British astro ...

archipelago. The island is heavily vegetated and shows geothermal activity. Tongoa is of recent volcanic origin but currently has no currently active volcano. There are numerous

volcanic cone Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and ...

s on the island and some black sand beaches. The estimated terrain elevation above the sea level is some 191 metres. There is an airport on the island – Tongoa Airport (TGH).

Flora and fauna

The interior part of the island is dense rain forest. The island is named after the Tongoa plant which grows in the area.

Megapode The megapodes, also known as incubator birds or mound-builders, are stocky, medium-large, chicken-like birds with small heads and large feet in the family Megapodiidae. Their name literally means "large foot" and is a reference to the heavy legs ...

s nest on the island. The only non-human mammals on the island are the

Vanuatu flying fox The Vanuatu flying fox or white flying fox (''Pteropus anetianus'') is a species of flying fox in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanu ...

and Tonga leather, or

insular flying fox The insular flying fox or Pacific flying fox (''Pteropus tonganus'') is a species of flying fox in the family Pteropodidae. It is geographically widespread, the most widespread flying fox in the Pacific: it is found in American Samoa, the Cook I ...

Important Bird Area

The island has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports populations of

Vanuatu megapode The Vanuatu megapode or Vanuatu scrubfowl (''Megapodius layardi'') is a species of bird in the family Megapodiidae. It was formerly known as the New Hebrides scrubfowl. It is found only in Vanuatu. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical ...

red-bellied fruit dove The red-bellied fruit dove (''Ptilinopus greyi'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in lowland forest in New Caledonia, Santa Cruz Islands ( Solomons), and Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanu ...

grey-eared honeyeater The grey-eared honeyeater (''Lichmera incana''), also known as the dark-brown honeyeater, is a passerine bird of the honeyeater family which is found in Vanuatu and New Caledonia in the south-west Pacific. It is sometimes known as the silver-eare ...

cardinal myzomela The cardinal myzomela (''Myzomela cardinalis'') is a species of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. It is named for the scarlet color of the male. It is found in American Samoa, New Caledonia, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, as ...

Melanesian flycatcher The Melanesian flycatcher (''Myiagra caledonica'') is a species of bird in the monarch-flycatcher family Monarchidae. The species is found on islands in Melanesia. Taxonomy and systematics It is closely related to the Vanikoro flycatcher. Alte ...

Vanuatu white-eye The Vanuatu white-eye or yellow-fronted white-eye (''Zosterops flavifrons'') is a small passerine bird belonging to the genus ''Zosterops'' in the white-eye family Zosteropidae. It is endemic to Vanuatu, where it is one of the most common birds. ...

s and red-headed parrotfinches. The neighbouring islet of Laika to the north has a breeding colony of

wedge-tailed shearwater The wedge-tailed shearwater (''Ardenna pacifica'') is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It is one of the shearwater species that is sometimes referred to as a muttonbird, like the sooty shearwater of New Zealand and ...

Population

As of 2015, the official local population was 2243 people in 454 households, most of whom moved from Epi, Emae and Makira to Tongoa. There are 14 villages on the island. Some natives speak Makura language (''Na Makura'') and

North Efate language North Efate, also known as Nakanamanga or Nguna, is an Oceanic language spoken on the northern area of Efate in Vanuatu, as well as on a number of islands off the northern coast – including Nguna, and parts of Tongoa, Emae Emae is an island i ...

(''Na Kanamanga'').

References

{{authority control Islands of Vanuatu Shefa Province Important Bird Areas of Vanuatu Seabird colonies