Fiji: Sigatoka Sand Dunes

Time to drive to Suva! Suva is the location of University of the South Pacific, where we will be taking a three-day course about tourism, climate and indigenous culture of the South Pacific. Suva is on the complete opposite side of Fiji, so we embarked on a cross-country road trip and made two stops along the way.

Of course, it was down pouring through the morning and I was super worried our plans would get cancelled again. Luckily, both stops happened rain or shine. Up first: Sigatoka Sand Dunes. The dunes, which have been forming for thousands of years, were turned into Fiji’s first National Park in 1989.The dunes are home to artifacts left behind by early Fijian peoples that are almost 3,000 years old. Some of these findings include pottery, tools and human remains.

There are two trails at the park and we took the shorter one (I think I am the only one who wanted to take the long, two-hour route). We started off through the forest, which boasted a wide range of coastal plants and trees. Then, we made it to the coast where the ocean met the shore. It was great to finally be at the water, my favorite place. Below is a photo of hut-like formations that are actually there to slow down erosion of the dunes.

The rain came down hard as we turned back to finish the trail, and we got soaked. I was just glad to be in nature and not locked up in a hotel. We found some pretty large bats hanging from the trees on our wet walk, and they were making loud squeaking noises. I was impressed by their size, as I have only seen bats that are no larger than my hand.

I was so thankful I got to visit a National Park in Fiji, let alone its original. We loaded back into the bus, clothes drenched, ready for lunch.