Taveuni, Rabi and Kioa

Taveuni

Taveuni is famous for its waterfalls and world-class dive sites like the white wall and many others on the famous rainbow reef. Here you need a pe guide, as the correct tide and current is essential to see the white coral flowers open on a sheer wall.

Rabi

In this same area visit the Rabi island dancers in Nuku for great entertainment and then the Island of Kioa for the best handicrafts in Fiji.

The inhabitants on Rabi are Banabans from Ocean Island in Micronesia. Phosphate mining devastated Ocean Island, so the British bought Rabi for resettlement. Though Fiji citizens since 1945, they speak Gilbertese, and their lifestyle preserves age-old traditions. Their dancing is very unlike Fijian dancing; more Polynesian and very stimulating! A few years ago they put together an amazing brass band which is very professional and caused us some initial serious eyebrow raising as we sat in this remote anchorage miles from anywhere listening to a practice session!

Kioa

Kioa is an outlier to Vanua Levu, one of Fiji’s two main islands. Situated opposite Buca Bay, Kioa is a freehold by settlers from Tuvalu, who came between 1947 and 1983. Kioa is one of two islands in Fiji populated by South Sea Islanders, the other being Rabi, also in the Vanua Levu Group and home to a displaced Banaban community.