The "real" Fiji
Main Street in
Nadi is a trendy tourist strip. Yet just a block over off
Sahu Khan Street is Nadi's bustling produce market where Fijian villagers and city folk haggle over root vegetables, bananas, coconuts and fish. In a back corner of the market, vendors sell pyramids of kava roots used to make the muddy national beverage, yaqona. It only costs a dollar to order a large bowl and bystanders will happily help you finish it. Saturday is the big day here but the market is closed on Sunday.
Sigatoka junket
Virtually every hotel around Nadi has a desk selling bus and boat tours. However, it's easy enough to organise your own public transportation day trip for a fraction of the price. Public buses to Nadi Bus Station ply Queens Road every five or 10 minutes. Once there, change to a bus to
Sigatoka on the south coast. Ask to be let out at the
Sigatoka Sand Dunes Visitors Centre, a journey of under an hour from Nadi by local bus. Hiking trails lead to the summit of the coastal dunes, where ancient burials have been uncovered. After an hour or two, catch another bus into nearby
Sigatoka. The town's setting along Fiji's second largest river is attractive; there's another colourful local market and all the usual shops and cafes. Numerous buses return to Nadi until late at night.
Sidetrip to a tropical rainforest
Fiji's capital city
Suva offers excellent shopping, dining, sightseeing, and nightlife. In the green hills behind the city, only a 20-minute taxi ride from downtown, is
Colo-i-Suva Forest Park with 6.5 kilometers of trails through a lush mahogany forest. Waisila Falls in the park is photogenic, and there are natural pools in the creek where you can swim. This is the best place near Suva for observing endemic birds, butterflies, reptiles, insects, and plants.
Raintree Lodge on the edge of the park serves a good lunch, and you can easily catch a local bus back to Suva.
Fiji's old capital
Levuka is best exemplified by the row of "Wild West" wooden buildings along
Beach Street. Most visitors adapt to the humidity by slowing down and absorbing the colonial atmosphere on quiet walks around town. For the more energetic, there's a hiking trail over the mountains to the interior village of
Lovoni, home of a clan of once-feared Fijian warriors. Visiting
Lovoni involves a degree of protocol, and luckily, a local man named
Epi has made it his business to lead guided hikes from
Levuka to
Lovoni daily, except Sunday. The nominal price includes a formal welcome by the village chief, lunch, and transportation back to Levuka.
Epi is extremely knowledgeable about the local flora and his fascinating stories help make this vigorous hike bearable.
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