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Things to see and do in Taveuni
Taveuni Island is a nature lover's paradise with abundant natural features and highly endemic flora and fauna.
The high rainfall within the island produces some spectacular waterfalls. The moisture, combined with the fertile volcanic soil creates a thick carpet of vegetation. The dense, virgin rainforest around the island is festooned with orchids and ferns.
This combined with the relatively low impact of population, limited logging, and no introduced mongoose (as on the other main islands of Fiji), has made Taveuni the envy of Fiji for its natural wilderness, wildlife and conservation value.
Bouma National Park
Bouma N.P provides plenty of walks, scenery, natural cascades, and swimming holes. It covers nearly a third of the island with over 150,000 sq.km (37,000 acres).
Saved from logging in 2002, it was declared a World Heritage Area, (Fiji's only World Heritage area), with $FJ 60,000 assistance from the New Zealand Government.
Three local tribal clans (Mataqali) are the traditional owners of the park. They also manage the park, (rather than the Fijian Government), which has become a benchmark for Native Land Conservation in Fiji.
It is a lush tropical habitat providing rare exotic species of hardwoods, flora and abundant birdlife within a mixture of lowland and montane rainforest.
Bouma also contains the rare Tagimoucia [pronounced Tangi-mow-thea] flower, which can only be found in Taveuni.
Natural Features
Other than Bouma there are a number of natural features on the island. Some of which include the following:
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Waitabu Marine Park
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Prince Charles Beach
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Mt Uluiqalau [pronounced Uloo-e-galaw] (1241 metres high)
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Waitavala Natural Waterslide
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Mangrove forests of eastern side
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Blowhole at Vuna
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The many reefs around the island
The high rainfall, cooler temperatures and the fertile soil, provides a large biodiversity of tropical plant species within the lowland and montane rainforest.
The largely unexplored forests and mountains contain several known species of palms, ferns, orchids and other plants not found elsewhere on earth. The most famous of which is the rare Tagimoucia flower.
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Found on the shores of Lake Tagimoucia (in Bouma NP) from September through to December. Known in Fijian, as the "Flower of Love", it has a traditional Fijian legend attached to it. These beautiful flowers come in two varieties of red and white flowers and grow nowhere else in the world. In the past botanists have tried to propagate it in other parts of the world but to no avail. |
Tagimoucia flower |
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Fauna
Taveuni provides an abundance of wildlife with its relatively inaccessible mountains and abundant plant biodiversity, has made it a haven for many species of birds once found throughout the Fijian Island group.
It is also home to several species of reptiles such as the Pacific Boa, which is still fairly common in the rainforest, and the Fijian frog ("Drelli"), which is all but extinct on the other main islands due to the introduction of the mongoose.
Birdwatchers come from all over the world, and consider Taveuni to have some of the best bird life in Fiji and the Pacific, some of which is endemic to the island.
A few of the bird species include the Azure Crowned Flycatcher, Taveuni Parrot, Collard Lory, Vanikoro Broadbill, Black-naped Tern, Wattled Honeyeater, and Fiji Goshawk. Perhaps the most famous of all Taveuni's birds is the fabled Orange Dove, of which no known photos exist.
For centuries before European arrival, Taveuni was famous for its "Kula" - a species of parrot also endemic to the area. In ancient times trading parties of Tongans would journey to Fiji to barter for it and is one of only two islands in the north of Fiji where it is found.
The mangroves of Vuntarawau (located on the eastern side near Qeleni village, also provide a habitat for the Flying Fox, which is a species of bat, and can often be seen flying around at night.
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Exclusive Getaways on Taveuni
(click on image)
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