Taveuni

Incidentally I forgot to record that the beautiful little bird of two days ago was a Red faced parrot Finch.
 We  travelled 55 nautical miles overnight to arrive at the island of Taveuni,26 miles long, 7 miles wide and the third largest of the Fijian islands.The mongoose has not been introduced to Taveuni so there is supposed to be very good bird life on the island,so we went on a bird watching expedition.However the planners forgot that 60 people with one guide make too much noise for good bird watching and ,in any case,90% of the people cannot hear what is being said.

There was a hard climb by 4x4 up into the rain forest,some walking in the forest looking for birds,some were seen by the fortunate few,and also a side trip to see the Fijian national flower growing in the wild.

Tagimaucia,is a vine endemic to this island,and very attractive with its two tone flowers.Less land has been cleared for development on Taveuni than the two larger Islands (Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.)so that nearly all the indigenous plants of Fiji are found on the island.

We did see some birds,a parrot,a honeyeater and some folk saw the orange dove,but it was poorly arranged and so rather disappointing.

But the views were spectacular and the wild orchids beautiful.The afternoon gave us our first opportunity to snorkel,which we did from a beach of Korolevu island,and on the surrounding reef.Elizabeth only went from the beach ,calm and not too deep.I went from a platform over the reef,which was very rough and affected by the currents.

Korolevu Island
The corals were fantastic and the fish exquisite in their colours and variety,but there was a nasty swell and some strong currents that made it hard work away from the protection of the island.This little island ,by the way,is for sale at US$ 2.5 million.But it is just a small island with 4 small ,but very beautiful,beaches.
Only about 100 of the Fijian islands are populated and altogether the 332 islands have a surface area of 18274 sq Kilometres,about twice the size of Cyprus.Two more Fijian islands to visit,so more geography tomorrow!