Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Well what can you say about Vorovoro that hasn’t already been documented by so many like-minded people? Well, nothing, that’s the simple answer, because Vorovoro leaves you completely speechless.

But here is my story nonetheless…

I went through a slightly different route to get onboard with Tribewanted and that was through Feejee Experience, who offer a trip called the ‘Tribal Loop’. What an incredible experience. You are driven around Viti Levu (The main island) over a minimum of four days, I only took the four day option due to time constrains. The guide (Cam) taught us a lot about the Fijian culture, the people and the history of the island. This ended up being such a great insight in the real life of Fiji, which I think gave me an advantage when arriving at Vorovoro. After the four days I book my flight to Vorovoro, for a weeks time, so as most people do in Fiji, I did a little island hopping, once again soaking in all Fiji has to offer.

All of the previous experiences had no bearing on what I was about to experience on the path to paradise.

I woke up at 5.30am on Saturday, ready to board my plane from Nadi to Suva and then get a connecting flight to Labasa. I loved the plane ride, twin propeller plane, which you know would be a lot harder to control than the self driven commercial planes most international travelers use. Looking out of the window and seeing all the little Fijian islands passing below me, I knew I was heading somewhere special, and somewhere unknown to the mass market. I felt good inside except for the ever increasing bladder. The landing was a little bit bumping, but you could tell there was a fair bit of wind blowing around. I jumped down the four steps of the plane and the heat of the day hit me with full force, so much for that wind, eh? I headed straight into terminal building, which by the size of it, could easily have been built by bamboo sticks, it was a little shack with a large piece of tarmac slapped next to it. After running past Kesa, who I was soon to meet, I darted for the toilet. After what seemed like a gallon of water escaping me I walk out of the toilet with an empty bladder and a smile, only to hear my name called out. I turned around a there was Kesa standing there with a big smile and a pink Skydive Taupo t-shirt on. We did all the formalities, grabbed my bag, jumped into a taxi and headed to town.

My god I think its getting hotter, we reached town and I left all my belongings in the hotel and headed out to grab a few things for the next journey. I picked up a new memory card for my camera, (as yes dumb old me managed to leave my memory card in my computer which I left at Aquarius in Nadi) and some Kava for Tui Mali, who I was to meet on Tuesday. We headed back to the hotel where I met Beme, Jimmy, and two of his three children, Lucas and Beth. Once again we went through all the formalities and then jumped into the boat. After experiencing the island boats of South East Asia, I was expecting this to be the same, but much to my surprise, this boat was ‘wananavu’ (fantastic), brilliantly crafted and brightly coloured in red and yellow, not only that, it had a great engine strapped to it. Jone (the boat driver) powered through the mangroves with Beme explaining what I should expect from Vorovoro. As the shores parted and the sea opened out there was only one sight in my eyes and it looked like Paradise. What an incredible looking island, I was explained that there were 4 peaks on Vorovoro that you could walk, my eyes lit up, trekking on a small island, could this place get any better?

We arrived on the shore to the warming sound of ‘Bula Sia’ and some of the best smiles I have ever seen in my life. I was welcomed by Jenny and in tow little Oliver. I was then shown around the community built village, which was amazing, it consisted of: The Hammock Society (‘Chill Out, Don’t Work Out’, which was the wording etched into the sign), The Bounty Bar and Kitchen, behind that is the Tool Shed, the Compost Toliets and the Pee Pod, all the luxuries that have been added to this amazing island. Then I was taken to the Grand Bure, what a construction marvel, it keeps you cool in the daytime heat and warm in the evening chills, and it was crafted by natural materials which is astonishing. I was then shown the Ecotricity Hut (electricity hut powered by solar and wind power), The Vale (was I was going to spend all my nights here on the island), then the Chief’s Bure, the Family Bure, and a few other houses which is where Jimmy and his family and Beme lived.

That evening the island was invaded by 8 Americans, who were in the Peace Core. They arrived around 4pm, with their backpacks and some tents, ready for a night on the island. They were a great bunch of people, who were living completely separate lives in the vastness of America only to be united in Fiji. We sat around the fire that night, singing, dancing and having a merrily good time. We all said our goodnights and I headed to the Vale, jumped into bed under my mosquito net and listened to the sounds of the waves hitting the beach, knowing I was somewhere special. I drifted off easily to sleep that night. I woke up bright and early to the perfect blue skies and crystal clear waters, today was Sunday, the day of rest. The peace core group left fairly early and the villagers all poured to church, which left us left on the island to fend for ourselves. How surreal is this? I am on an island with an English girl and a family from America, on a remote island in the South Pacific, this is what dreams are made of. The rest of the day was very chilled out until the villagers came back to throw us in the sea, it is the new year and all. It would be rude not too! I had a great time floating around in the clear seas, but my fingers were going wrinkly so I thought it was time to go and get change as I could tell the sun would be setting sometime soon. I headed back to the Vale got dry and changed into some long cotton trousers and a t-shirt and headed to the bounty bar, only to hear laugher coming from the beach, so I headed down there only to see more people thrown in the sea. Jimmy clocked eyes with me in my nicely dry clothes, and you can guess what happened after that, yep, back in the sea fully clothed! What a way to end a day!!! Vinaka vaka levu everyone.

How far away am I from the stresses of life back in the UK, well the next morning I was to find out, I woke up to the sound of a bell chime and the taste bud tingling smell of freshly baked bread, the sun was up in all its full glory, the birds were singing and the waves were crashing on the beach, with only one thought in my head, ‘what unexpected delights am I going to experience today?’. Well it was a full day, learning how to husk a coconut, helping to clean out one of the water tanks (the temperature got to 41C), I think I could have filled the water tank back up with the amount of sweat that was pouring out of me. So we jumped into the sea and went for a bit of a snorkel with Bebe. Tonight was the first time to sample the delightful taste of Kava with the villagers. At this stage I had grown to like the taste of Kava, the clay like flavourred, muddy water, goodness. But after around 18 bilo’s later and feeling the kava ready to come back up the same way it went it, I senga vinaka’ed. That was me done, I was spaced out and listening to the delightful sounds of the tribedwanted sessions that were being played through the MAC’s speakers.I think my preparation for the sevu sevu that was to come tomorrow was done, It was around 2am and my mattress was calling.

I woke up early, well earlish considering we’d had a big grog session the night before, feeling a little bit rough, Jimmy and I had a quick breakfast then headed out for a walk along the four peaks, there’s no better way to recover from a grog session than to sweat it out and what a way to do it. It was 8am when we set off, as we didn’t want to be in the suns full force but it was still just under 30 degrees. Jimmy went in front and took the full force of all the spider webs to the face, much to my amusement. We hit the hills with as much grace as a fish on dry land but we didn’t care, look at what we were experiencing. After almost 2 hours of sweating, slipping, passing through a burial site, a few sea snakes and crabs, we arrived back in the village ready to start some work, as today was the day that Chief Tui Mali was visiting. A quick dunk in the sea I was ready to go, so we headed up to the pig pens and started to de-weed the long grass. About an hour later a several pints of sweat trailing behind me, we called it a day. Now, its time to comb the beaches and pathways for the arrival of the Chief.
I cleaned myself up, put on my sulu and went and sat in the Grand Bure ready for the Chief’s arrival. I’m not going to go into full detail about the sevu sevu, as I want you to experience this yourself. All I can say is Tui Mali is a true Fijian; smiles, laughter and energy oozing from every pour. Enjoy the time you have with him and try and soak up as much of this experience as you can, its incredible!

The next morning we woke up to a few more new arrivals to the island and they didn’t get here by sea. 12 brand new piglets littered the pigs pen, unfortunately went I left there were only 10 survivors. The birth of the baby piglets also gave birth to much needed rain clouds which hammered down on us in the early afternoon, which left us all chilling out in the Grand Bure, this was going to become a regular occurrence over the next few days. This is the start of the wet season for Vorovoro, who luckily avoided the cyclone which battered the main land on 14th December 2009.

Another sunny morning to start a semi-active day, I started off by getting onto the roof to give it a clean, before the rain clouds battered the shores again. With the help of Oliver we managed to finish one off before the clouds hit. Then back to the Grand Bure for another relaxing afternoon. And an evening full of films and chocolate teddy bear biscuits. A great yummy treat, for the kids and the big kids.

My last day on the island and I was determined to finish my book I was reading so I could leave it behind to add to the ever increasing book library on the island. Luckily I managed to, its hard to concentrate when you’re in a hammock with the sound of waves crashing next to you, its hard work to keep your eyes open. That was a tough day for me, can you tell? Unfortunately, a cold managed to kick in, which made me pass on the last night of grog, glands inflamed and throat on fire I headed to bed. But it wasn’t going to take the smile from my face, my time was limited on the island.
The next day, I purchased Ben’s booked ‘Tribewanted – My adventure on paradise or bust’ (awesome read, I haven’t managed to put it down yet, if you have been to Vorovoro or are intending to go there soon, grab yourself a copy, he has written it in a way that will keep you gripped all the way through, and there are so many subtle things in the that remind you of the glorious place) and a few pieces of jewelry crafted by the legend known as Pup u and before I knew it my time on the island had come to an end. All the villagers came down to see me off, and I had a great farewell send off, which everyone will experience, I said all my goodbyes and managed to keep the tears inside. It was such an emotional time, I just didn’t want to leave! I jumped into the and thought of one thing to say that I knew would get everyone waving me off those big smiles that I loved to see. I shouted out from the boat ‘Uro Levu’ which as I had guessed got big laughs and a few ‘vinaka uro levus’ and a few ‘lewaqa’. My time here was done.

The Vorovoro community has and will also have a place in my heart, and I know that feeling will be in all the hearts of the people that have visited this incredible place.

So my thanks go out to everyone from the village, special thanks to Beme, Jimmy, Jenny, Lucas, Beth and the coolest little man ive ever met, Oliver. I also have a big vinaka vaka levu to Ben and Mark for making this experience possible for all of us.

Moce.