Massive Kolombangara celebration

Kolombangara warriors salute VIP party
Kolombangara conservation area in green
Mofat Fugui, Minister of Environment and Danny Philip, local member, are welcomed by Kolombangarans

What a week! 3,000 people joined the celebrations at Ringgi on Kolombangara on 13-17 June to dedicate the 400m conservation area and compete in competitions.

Everybody had smiles on their faces. There was music, sport, traditional dancing, marching and lots of officials.

Kolombangara Island Biodiversity and Cultural Festival was a huge success and felt like a week-long party!

Thanks for all the hard work by many people that made the festival so good. KIBCA was helped both by Kolombangarans and people from other islands alike. KIBCA would especially like to thank Event Coordinator, Sue Vave and Technical Officer, Andrew Cox.

Watch the Video of the Festival

See the action from the video, set to inspiring music commissioned especially for the festival by local band, Easy Rust.

Festival VIP Party

The VIP party was:

  • Gordon Darcy MP, Solomon Islands Minister for Finance, Member for Gizo/Kolombangara
  • Mofat Fugui, SI Minister of Environment Tia Marsol, Deputy Director, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management & Meteorology
  • Jointly Sisiolo, Ministry of Environment
  • Pie Robert, Deputy Premier, Western Province
  • Christian Mesepitu, Min. for Tourism, Sports and Culture, Western Province
  • Francis Dugan, Western Prov. Env Officer, Western Province
  • Donald Saepio, Chairman, KIBCA
  • Douglas Hiva, Interim Chair, Kolombangara Island Council of Chiefs (KICC).

SPONSORS - Leana Hola! – Thank you

KIBCA thanks the following financial supporters for making the Festival possible.

MAJOR SUPPORTERS General financial support for the festival:

  • AVI - Australian Volunteers International
  • KFPL Solomon Islands Government
  • WWF Melanesia
  • Hotel Gizo (Soccer prize)

Minor Supporters

  • Saltai, Noro (Naming Competition)
  • bemobile (Naming Competition)
  • JS Store, Ringgi (Speech and Drawing Comp)
  • Dive Munda, Gizo (Netball Comp)
  • Fatboys Resort (Soccer Comp)
  • Wing Sun, Gizo (Singing Contest)
  • DJ Graphics, Honiara (T-Shirt discount)

Video of Stills from the Festival

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