LIVING WITH THE SEA & JUNGLE

We invite you to experience the semi self-sustaining wonderful rhythm of tropical island daily life. For generations

FIJIAN BAVELO (Kayak / Canoe)

Enjoy our scenery intimately at a nice pace in our locally made bavelos - a traditional Fijian kayak/canoe. Being in a natural boat enables you to feel the ryhthm of our island life properly. A feeling you just can not gain in a motorboat, or synthetic kayak. We invite you to come, and see.

Bavelos are carved out of any local timber. We cut down trees with trunks wide enough to put our arms around them. We leave them to dry for 7-10 days if the sun is out every day. We skin the tree of the bark, and shape the belly of the bavelo with a carving axe. We cook the black mangrove bark for varnish to prevent rotting, and keeping the boat slick. We then test for sea worthiness.

Our bavelos are made by one of the finest carpenters' in Kadavu, and the best canoe maker in Matanuku, my father Alipate Tuverevoli. It is our explicit intent to pass on customary bavelo making methods to future Fijian generations so everyone can appreciate the way our ancestors travelled with the tides.

Bavelo Guided Tours & Rental More >>

FISHING

SNORKELING

TREE CLIMBING

BIRD WATCHING

MUSIC

At any time you may hear serande guitar and vocals. Solo vocalists are not as common as a harmonized group. Local village groups sit together with young and old to belt out original and classic Fijian love songs regularly over kava. We love to sing when walking, farming, waiting, and whenever an emotion inspires.

Vucu Ni Baravi

Vucu is a traditional Fijian legendary song. It is the primary way our ancestors told stories, and shared insight about village life, families, encounters with nature, and friends.

This particular Vucu ni Baravi song was written in 1947 by Maresa, a famous songwriter from Kadavu, who belongs to a family nationally renoun for their song writing skills.

Lomai i naleca meu tiko kina
Tale vaka tolu nanoqu volita
Kena baravi u vaka raica
Yaca ni vanua u vaka wilika

Tekivu mai muai nasava
Ko nuku balavu e koto tarava
Ko naleca sakoto mai yasana
Na matavura vakaturaga

Noqu yaco tu ki nukuciri
Voleka tu ki ucui yaqisi
Koto mai liu ko naboutini
Nai rikarika kau sa na taiki

Tuvuki meu vakayawayawa
Vuni vesi kula e vakananawa
Ko rata ni vono e kobuwata
Ko ucui navetau maimada

Sa kabukabu na lomaniwasa
Ciri cake tu na koro ciriyawa
E dua navale vakaturaga
Iloilo taucoko na babana

U butuka tu na matanidarava
Ka sana cariba na wida varasa
Na rumu ni qito meu laki sarava
Mera dua qito kinamarama

Tu vuki meu rai ki vanua
Ko nukucagina e kabukabua
E vakaloloma ko nacuacua
Iloilo taucoko na babana

Meu sana cabe curu ki vanua
U dagava cake tu na leba kula
U raica tu na katubai i rua
Tiko kina namrama rua

Noqu curu yani ki loma ni vale

E tarogi au tu ko rokowati

Sa rogo cava mai vunilagi
Sa kele tu na vesi tagitagi

E rua tarogi au vakarua
Vosa i bulou utawa sauma
U raica tu na mata ni vanua
Nona vosa u sauma malua

Noqu curu yani ki loma ni vale
E tarogi au tu ko rokowati
Sa rogo cava mai vunilagi
Sa kele tu na vesi tagitagi

E rau tarogi au vakarua

Vosa i bulou utawa sauma
U raica tu na mata ni vanua

Nona vosa u sauma malua

Ko yau na gone mai vunilagi

U vodoka tu na vesi tagitagi
U vaqara na vuculagilagi

Na yacana na vucu ni baravi

Tu vuki meu curu tu ki tuba

Vosa tale ko bulou duadua

E dusia tu na vu nileba kula

Rokowati mo kauta malua

Ledacava tu na vunileba kula

Ko bulou sa dredre malua

Noqu salusalu mo laki kauta

Salusalu ni vucu ni vuravura

Meu sana siro sobu ki sawana

U yacova na ucu i saubaba

Koto kina na sala ki wasawasa

Ko burotu kula e kobuata

Sa cere sobu na mati yakavi

U cabeta cake tu na baravi

Cere koto mai ko nukutagitagi

Na toba ni bulikula mai cake

Na dela ni vatu u laki kabata

Koto kina na waiwai vainaka

Mera dua sili kina na marama

Sili oti mera cabe ki sawana

U goleva cake tu na baravilala

Daveta ni vonu e ciri ki wasa

Me nodra i sobusobu na marama

Tabace kula ra dua sarava

Duru yatamata meu yaco yani

Nai sogoceva meu coraki

Tiko kina na mata ni vunilagi

Na ucuna sa malawasewase

chorus:
Na vucu na vacu
Kau sa na kerea
Na yacana tu na sinurogo ceva
Me baleti ira na vua ni leba
Na marama mai vanua yalewa

DANCE

Meke :: A war dance performed by men. Usually bare chested in full traditional regalia, and black painted face. No accompanied music. The dancers chant.

Taura-Tale :: A romantic two-step dance. In a gathering on the floor with live Fijian music, a boy, or girl will stand and request to take a dance. If someone refuses to dance with a suitor, then for the rest of the night they must refuse every other suitor, and sit out the whole night. In the dance, the couple holds each other side by side. Together they lightly step front and back before the seated group, to the slight sway of the live song.

Waltz :: A Fijian face to face dance.

Tuiboto Waltz :: An energetic dance train. One person takes the lead, and sometimes forms a circle if the trail becomes long and fills the crowded floor.

KAVA

Kava is a traditional ceremonial, social Fijian drink made out of the Yagona root. Kava drinking can be informal and formal.

The root takes 3 years to mature, and grows best in lush areas. Kadavu is home to the strongest Kava, and the biggest cash crop of our region.

After we harvest kava, the root gets dried, pounded, and ground up. Kava is mixed with water in a big bowl made of timber wood with four legs (the most beautiful kava bowls are made in the Lau province of Fiji). The mixture is then strained and kneaded with a Unu, bark of the Vau tree.

Once a thick milky drink, "the waitor" serves the kava according to heirarchy of the gathering. The Village Chief gets served first. The waitor pours the kava into the Chiefs' kava cup. Selected spokesmen drink after the Chief. The waitor serves kava in a coconut shell individually with patience, to each person in the room. The person drinking is to clap once before drinking, and three times after they chug the kava. A resounding "Maca" meaning "finished" may be hollared out by the group.

You know it's kava time if you hear the Tabili - pounding the kava - happening. We can even hear BureLevu Village Tabili, across the bay, if the night is calm, and clear. A kava session lasts as long as the day, or until the kava bowl runs out. We like kava.

Somi-suka is kava flirting ritual where the female serves the male, and vice-versa. This ritual usually takes place when village youth meet up with each other. Lots of fun.

MAT WEAVING

Women use the fronds of the Pandanus plant to weave traditional Fijian floor mats. It takes at least one year for the leaves to be long enough to be used. They cut leaves from the trunk, and remove the thorns on the edges. Boil the leaves in hot water. The now light brown leaves are left to dry in the sun. They then blacken a small portion of the leaves (so they can create a strong design along the frindge of the mat) by burying some leaves in the mud for a week to a month. The longer the staining process, the more deep, and rich black color.

Once dry, she straightens the leaves with a particular type of round, smooth sided sea shell. Coils the leaves together for compact storage.

For the weaving, women take one leaf and cut a few a long strips, to define the standard width of the weaved pattern. They criss-cross the strips into a gridlike pattern and work in a design around the edges. More contemporary mats include brightly multicolored yarn on the edge, Kula. Varied patterns.

Main home floor mats can handle heavy treading for at least 4 months.

Mats are traditionally created by relatives of both families related to the bride and groom, and ceremonially presented as prized wedding gifts. Within each of the couples' home village the parents of the respective couple collects the mats before the wedding as a day event. There's also slight competition amongst the women as to who can make the most elaborate mat.

HAND FANS & HATS & BASKETS & SERVING TRAYS

Women make long lasting hand-fans, hats, food serving trays, and baskets using coconut leaves. They collect big leaves, and let them dry, and Tali Tali - weaving the leaf into a wonderful creation. Bags can range from being delicate and ornate, to tough and extremely durable. In the field you typically see a man carry a shovel over his shoulder with a a woven basket full of vegitables, or firewood hanging of the end of it. Women however use a, Bole, a basket with straps that hangs like low riding backback to carry laundry, fruit, vegitables, firewood, or a baby.

JEWLERY

Women pick out the shiny black, and golden brown seeds of the Lili wild flower as beads for necklaces, braclets, and earrings.

Our beaches and shores are littered with seashells, so we use them for decoration, weddings, formal events,

FIJI MEDICINE

Natural remedies are the norm, not the exception here.

Tummy ache - Chew on guava leaves, and drink juice.

Sore throat - Munch on and swallow juice of Sasaqilu leaves.

Cuts, abbrasions - Apply juice of Mile-A-Minute leaves, and wrap wound with leave as bandage.

Grog hangover - Pawpaw, raw fish or clam, chili, lemon.

Insect bites - Coconut oil.

Maintain good health, preventive - Drink wild Kura (aka. Noni) regularly.

Cough - Take Sagu fruit.

Lunar season colds - Boiled Sinu leaves creates a scalding hot drink that gives the sensation of internal heat. This drink is also taken before snorkeling to stay warm inside when in the water fishing all day.

Stomach ache - Take the juice of the Tomole leaves.

Clean eyelids - We use hibiscus stamen.

Nursing mothers - Bamba :: follow a strict diet of boiled Taro stems to promote full breastmilk.

ORGANIC FARMING

We truly live off the land of our island. People take care of their own farms individually, but borrow things from each other if in a pinch, and essentially work cooperatively. Our self-sustaining island agriculture enables us to eat a healthy diet of fresh, natural, organic Fijian meals. Many people of Matanuku also have farms on the southern hillside of Kadavu too, on land given to us by our relatives in the neighboring villages.

We have a season to plant and a season to harvest. We plant in the spring (Aug-March), and sometimes during wet weather conditions. We typically harvest the plants in the dry season.

Our farming includes cultivating:

Taro
Cassava
Yagona (aka Kava)
Banana
Watermelon
Avacado :: 2 kinds: red, and green. Red is sweet, and big.
Pawpaw :: 3 varieties: hybrid Hawaiian, pink flesh New Zealand, and the juiciest is our local Pawpaw
Pandanus
Sweet Potato
Melons :: Watermelon, Lebanon, Local, Hybrid, and Giant (some get to be 20 kg) Jackfruit
Tavola - tarawau nuts
Happy fruit
Yams :: Root yams, Yacht, Purple, Bat, Avacado, Short & Long Daniel, Rotuman, Taqataqa, Veua, White and Yellow Iguana, Bill
Mango :: Whale tooth, Papaya, Apple, Stone, Hybrid, and Kerosene
Guava
Papaya
Ginger
Lemons
Cucumbers
Capsicum, Peppers
Tomatoes :: Red, and yellow
Limes
Cumquats
Red & Green Chili
Wet & dry coconut & Bu
Eve fruit
Pumpkin
Bele :: 4 kinds, 3-petals, 1-long petal, red petals, and many petals. Highly nutritional.
Fiji Onions - leaves are yummy for salads. One is purple and the other is green.
Pineapple - 2 varieties: king & queen
Sousou - wild vegetable

CUISINE

Our staple diet is made from ONLY fresh, natural, local ingredients (with a very few store bought exceptions). We do not have power on the island so electic stove, and microwaves are not our thing. We cook by wood fire and with grills for the most flavor. Our Village is widely prized for our lobsters, variety of crabs, wonderful diversity of shellfish, and tasty coconuts. We do not eat processed foods. We eat what we get from the natural bounty of our gardens, farms, and local sea.

Night diving. and womenfishing.

Lovo

A traditional Fijian under ground oven. The Lovo may be dug out for a special occation, or used in a customary household spot. To create a Lovo a man or group of men will dig a hole, make a firepit with logs, pile heap of stones. Then set it on fire, and let the stones overheat. After roughly 1 1/2 hours, once the stones are "red hot", the timber is removed, and the wood grill is put in as a tray. Food is placed on the grill which protects the food from getting burned. Then the Lovo is covered with jumbo Coconut and Banana, and wild Taro leaves. The mound is then blanketed with dirt to seal in the delicous juices, and smoke aromas.

Halved pumpkin filled with rice, meat, onions, taro leaves, chili, coconut fat
The Lovo is prepared as a big meal, and may have a few different dishes baking within it.

For example: fish, pork, chicken, taro, cassava, lolo (coconut milk) wrapped with Taro leaves, curry, chop sue, beef, lamb chops. Really all types of food come out tasty when prepared in a lovo.

Seafood

- Fillin Lobsters
- Omlette: fat part of the crab with only coconut fat
- Fillin Land-crab
- Fried fish
- Raw Clams, seaweeds, octopus, sea snail
- Cassava with shaved coconut (valavalava)
- Kokoda: Sea Urchins & Ibo with a Kaikoso mixed with potato, onions, orange, chili.
- Bugs
- Reef snails
- Fresh water prawns (Ura Niwaidranu)

Select Local Meats

Lamb. Pork. Beef. Goat. Chicken. Duck. Eggs.

SAMPLE MEALS

Breakfast
Somi Ti - lemon leaf tea

Freshly picked fruit salad :: Mango, pawpaw, banana, pineapple...

Lolo Porriage

Vudi-Yaca :: Shaved Plantains w. cassava, and coconut milk

Baba Kau :: Fried Donuts

Lolo Bun :: Bun steamed in lolo.

Sweet Cassava Cake

Lunch
Co-boi leave tea

Roasted lobsters

Fried fish

Sushi, raw freshly caught Matanuku fish

Taro, cassava, sweet potatoes, plantains

Fruit salad

Dinner
Somi Ti - lemon leaf tea

Lolo fish

Ginger chicken

Curry crabs

Bele :: spinach like greens

Pumpkin leaves

Kokoda :: Seaweed, octopus, chili, clams, lemon, lolo, stone sticker.

Palusami :: taro leaves stuffed with onions, coconut fat, meat, and garlic.

Vakalolo :: Scrapped cassava cooked and pounded until its soft, with a sugared lolo. We do Lolodave - milky version, and Sivaro, a more pulpy.

Freshly squeezed fruit punch

Scones

BURES

Traditional Fijian cottages are crafted entirely out of local natural resources. No nails are used whatsoever. Using man power only, with out the aid of electric tools. Our main tools consist of axes, stones, hammerstick, needlestick, knives, spades, shovel.

Foundation :: Dried trunk of the Dilo tree work perfectly as the four corner posts.
BalaBala :: Works as a roof cap.
Roof :: We use the largest trunks of local Black Mangroves for the roof structure, and posts. And local White Mangroves for roof thatching.
Ceiling :: Made out of weaved Coconut leaves. Instead of using nails, we tighten, and harness things using ropes.
Walls :: Medium-sized Black Mangroves trunk work great for wall studs. The main walls are created with weaved local Fijian bamboo. Wall thatching is made out bamboo.
Ropes :: Made out of Vau bark. First the whole trunk is cut into 4-5 sections, then bound together and soaked in sea water for at least a week. If the trunk is of a young tree it must soak for 7 days. However, if the trunk is of a older tree, then it requires soaking for up to 14 days. We produce to kinds of ropes from this bark.

Joint-Ropes - This rope works especially well for the interior and exterior walls, walls studs, and roof frame. We have special kind knots using it, depending upon if we need a T, L, or butt joint. One strand can lift ton.
Thatching-Rope - Braided Vau bark is super strong architectual element.

Local trees >>>

LEGENDS

Lore about Matanuku island >>>

TEAM SPORTS

Rugby Union Matches :: We play 7-a-side, 15-a-side, rugby touch for whoever many show up pre sunset.

Volleyball :: Take a side on a court surrounded by tropical fruit trees nestled in the lush hillside, overlooking the gorgeous Nalavani Bay.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

In December, Matanuku becomes a hot destination for locals. Special fishing rituals, and ceremonies take place. It is also a specical time, to catch worms. Asians, and locals enjoy eating them as a delicacy. But they only come out at certain time, and must be caught before the sunrises for they melt in the sunlight.

GAMES

Warotu :: Fijian card game.

Carom :: Traditional boardgame with marbles.