What a perfect opportunity to publish an interview with Ronald Wright. With the resumption of worldwide travel Fiji has once more become a favored South Pacific destination. The recent re-publication of his masterpiece, On Fiji Islands by Eland Books, our interview with Ronald Wright could not have come at a better time. Wright, a Canadian with English roots, is a...
Fiji is back in business and Savusavu has opened up for tourism. Fiji closed its borders to international tourists in March 2020, and remained closed for nearly two years, reopening on 1 December 2021. During this period, all of us have had the opportunity to do some introspection. With a biblical plague at our doorstep we’ve had a chance to assess what’s...
I recently had a chance to connect with my old friend Roberta Davis, who has spent the last 20 years at her B&B-style property called Makaira on the Garden Island of Taveuni. Located in the north of the Fiji Archipelago, it’s far from civilization and remains unspoiled. The Honolulu-born Davis and her husband, John Llanes, a Hawaii Island native, enjoy life in...
Vilsoni Hereniko, known to his friends as Vili, has come a long way from his native Rotuma, a Polynesian outlier in the far reaches of the Fiji archipelago. Inspired by the island’s folklore–we can call it Polynesia Mythology–as told to him by his father, the Honolulu-based filmmaker and Professor at the Academy for Creative Media at the University...
by William O’Grady Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part tribute to Al Schutz by University of Hawaii Professor, William O’Grady. One of William’s comments about Al that really struck me was his attention to the impact of nonindigenous scholarship on matters ranging from literacy to language planning. Thus Al was concerned about how...
Editor’s Note: This is the first column in a two-part tribute to Albert Schutz. Al Schutz was a close friend. He was also a friend of Fiji, a place he loved dearly, ever since he began his linguistics fieldwork in 1960. He was a connection to Fiji’s colonial past but very much in the present. He enjoyed regaling me with anecdotes about some of the more colorful...
Travel to Fiji came to a standstill with Covid, but the good news is that after 35 years Ron Wright’s masterpiece, On Fiji Islands, has been republished by Eland Books. Wright, a Canadian, is a travel writer in the classic British mold. Think Morris, Chatwin, Durrell, or Greene. His prose is unpretentious, elegant, and infused with spirit of place. As a reviewer in...
Ocean Ventures is launching an online course on South Pacific Coral Reef Ecology, to coincide with World Oceans Day and World Ocean Week. Taking inspiration from a field ecology course they have been teaching for many years, this eLearning course aims to bring coral reef ecology and a love of the marine world to everybody who is unable to travel and experience these...
Editor’s Note: A version of this piece first appeared in the Honolulu Star Advertiser I first arrived Taveuni in 1980 as part of a University of the South Pacific student group, cobbled together to rebuild an earthquake-shattered village. We debarked from an ancient cargo boat at a spare pier, boarded a bus and bumped along the unpaved road. The bus...
Rob Kay, the Honolulu-based author of Lonely Planet’s original Fiji guidebook, along with Lautoka, Fiji-based web and applications developer David Barnes, have updated the online travel guide, FijiGuide. Fiji Guide features all original content including blogs, videos, and photos from local photographers. Kay said the site provides the most relevant, up-to-date...
Editor’s Note: A version of this story was published in the Honolulu Star Advertiser. When Hawaii native Roberta Davis first came to Fiji in 1986 she never could have dreamed she’d be on the leading edge of reef restoration on the island of Taveuni. For her, discovering Taveuni was all about scuba. An experienced diver, she had never seen anything as...
On December 15 the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) launched Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific, the most comprehensive array of Fijian art ever mounted in the U.S. The exhibit will run until July 20, 2020. The Fiji art show at LACMA features over 280 artworks drawn from major international collections, including the Fiji Museum, British Museum, Museum of...
