Editor’s Note: When it comes to Fiji’s natural world no one has chroncled it better than Paddy Ryan. One of my most prized books is Paddy’s magnum opus, Fiji’s Natural Heritage. Paddy is multi faceted photographer–his subjects are both terrestrial and underwater. Whether his camera lense is focused on a crab, a salamander, a kingfisher...
No one personifies Fiji’s natural history space more than Paddy Ryan, author of Fiji’s Natural Heritage. Traned as a biologist, Paddy is an acclaimed photographer, skilled diver and underwater photographer, writer and chronicler of Fiji’s natural world. In this interview or “Talanoa” with archaeologist, Fiji language expert and...
Guided Walks–a walking tour of Suva, is a new endeavor created by Fijian Poet, Peter Sipeli. He created it with a strong belief that Fiji needed to provide more depth and knowledge about its contemporary spaces and culture as opposed to traditional Fiji Tourism which is too often focused on sun, sea and sand. Suva is a city he grew up in and is passionate about...
As someone who just updated a travel guide to Suva (Suva a History & Guide) I presumptuously assumed that I knew something about Fiji’s capital city. Well, my hubris quickly evaporated when I started perusing Nicholas (aka Nic) Halter’s expansive new book, Suva Stories a History of the Capital of Fiji. Professor Halter, a lecturer in history at USP, has...
My colleague Fantasha Lockington penned a recent story for the Fiji Times which we have posted below. Fantasha is CEO of the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association, which is on the cusp of “re-inaugurating” the org’s annual tourism conference, heretofore delayed by Covid over the past few years. The theme of the event is “Rethinking Tourism”...
Editors’ Note: I recently re-connected with Roberta Davis, who owns and operates a B&B-style property called Makaira on Taveuni, Fiji’s Garden Island. The property consists of four bures (cottages) perched on four acres of a hillside, once the site of an ancient village. Located a few miles from an old dirt airstrip, the resort on Taveuni is...
My how time flies. Its taken over four decades, but the newest edition of Suva: A History and Guide is now for sale on Amazon–both as an eBook (on Amazon’s Kindle platform) and in paperback.. So what’s the story behind this book? And why did it take 44 years for a second edition to emerge? Suva: A History and Guide was first published in 1978 by my...
With great fanfare, on August 2, 2022 the town of Savusavu “unveiled” its long simmering hot springs, national treasure, that until recently didn’t get much respect. I’m talking about the Nakama Hot Springs located in the center of Savusavu, which have been gurgling piping hot water and emitting steam for centuries. Until recently only a handful of villagers, who...
What a perfect opportunity to publish an interview with Ronald Wright. With the resumption of worldwide travel Fiji has once more become a favored South Pacific destination. The recent re-publication of his masterpiece, On Fiji Islands by Eland Books, our interview with Ronald Wright could not have come at a better time. Wright, a Canadian with English roots, is a...
Fiji is back in business and Savusavu has opened up for tourism. Fiji closed its borders to international tourists in March 2020, and remained closed for nearly two years, reopening on 1 December 2021. During this period, all of us have had the opportunity to do some introspection. With a biblical plague at our doorstep we’ve had a chance to assess what’s...
I recently had a chance to connect with my old friend Roberta Davis, who has spent the last 20 years at her B&B-style property called Makaira on the Garden Island of Taveuni. Located in the north of the Fiji Archipelago, it’s far from civilization and remains unspoiled. The Honolulu-born Davis and her husband, John Llanes, a Hawaii Island native, enjoy life in...
Vilsoni Hereniko, known to his friends as Vili, has come a long way from his native Rotuma, a Polynesian outlier in the far reaches of the Fiji archipelago. Inspired by the island’s folklore–we can call it Polynesia Mythology–as told to him by his father, the Honolulu-based filmmaker and Professor at the Academy for Creative Media at the University...
