About Us

El Manaro Nakamal was established in 2010 by Abel Nako with a vision to provide a local nakamal in Port Vila with the atmosphere of the village located in an expansive garden environment with plants he collected from all around Vanuatu.

El Manaro subsequently suffered a fire and arose from the ashes with the ash bar pictured here.

This was subsequently totally destroyed in category 5 cyclone Pam in March 2015.

With the dedicated assistance of our patrons we again rebuilt the nakamal back better than ever. For weeks we drank Kava and told stories amongst the rubble and devastation building a community and long lasting friendships.

In 2017 we hosted some 60 evacuees from Ambae Island after the eruption of the Manaro volcano for which we are named with the nakamal serving as an evacuation center for many months.

The vision to share the “storian" and “wise bong kava” values has led us to the establishment of El Manaro Export to share Kava with the rest of the world.