🛍️ Solomon Islands: souvenirs
Solomons craft is lagoon-born - kastom shell money, ebony carving inlaid with nautilus and the woven wealth of the western provinces. Here is what travellers bring home from Solomon Islands, where the good versions live, and the export questions worth a look - alongside our 31 written places.
🛒 The classic buys
Shell-inlay carving
Ebony and kerosene-wood bowls, nguzunguzu canoe figureheads and sharks inlaid with nautilus shell - the signature Solomons craft; Honiara's central market and village carvers sell direct.
Shell money
Malaita's strung shell currency, still used for bride price - buy lengths openly sold as craft; it is genuine cultural economy.
Woven baskets and mats
Pandanus work from the western and Temotu provinces.
Kastom carvings
Spirit figures and story pieces - buy from the carver where possible.
Ngali nuts and cocoa
The islands' forest nut and small-holder chocolate.
⚠️ Check before you buy
- Australian and NZ biosecurity - declare wood and fibre; untreated wood may need treatment certificates.
- Ebony and hardwoods - finished carvings from established sellers travel best; raw wood faces export scrutiny.
- WWII relics are protected - and unexploded ordnance is a real hazard; leave battlefield metal alone.
✗ Better left behind
- War relics - protected sites, live-ordnance risk.
- Turtle-shell and coral items - banned.
- Dolphin-teeth strings - a traditional currency, but import bans abroad make it a seizure.
Keep planning
Markets shift, workshops close and open, and the best souvenir is still the one with a story you were there for. Buy from makers where you can, keep receipts for anything substantial, and when a deal feels too good, it usually is.