fiji

Named the Vanua ni Tui Cultural Center for the Study of Fijian Culture of the Wailevu Tribe and the Wailevu Retreat Lodging, the site is in the Wailevu region on the Southern coast of the island of Vanua Levu. To get there from the airport, which is a 45-minute flight from Nadi on Vitu Levu, you drive west from picturesque Savusavu some thirty kilometers through the lush volcanic hill country that rings Savusavu Bay. This whole region is watery and green, criss-crossed by streams and springs, which gave birth to the name Wailevu, meaning "abundant water". It is a region relatively untouched by the twentieth century and foreign influences. Here villages of native Fijians function much as they did during the colonial era, maintaining the traditional customs and tribal structures, and living an agrarian lifestyle. Basic food is harvested locally from the land and sea, shelter is constructed of local materials, and many things are produced communally.

The site itself is a verdant plain. A wide, sandy beach forms its southern boundary with spectacular volcanic ridges to the north. Parts of it are dense tropical jungle, punctuated by coconut and papaya groves, fields of taro and cassava, and traditional villages. At its center, by the beach, is the ancestral home of the Wailevu Tui Lords, who have traditionally ruled over the Southern side of Vanua Levu, west of Savusavu. Here are the remains of over fifteen chiefly Bures, some of which are well over a hundred and fifty years old. It is still the residence of the ruling Tui, Ratu Kinijoji Maivalili, who is also a Member of Parliament, and the owner-developer of the site.

Electricity, telephone, pure spring water, an off-site waste disposal ponding plant, and Internet are available to the site.

and Wailevu Retreat