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Vanua Levu &

Includes  Why Go? . . . . . 151 With welcoming settlements, year-round warmth and gen- & Around. .154 uine local hospitality, it’s not for nothing that Vanua Levu ...... 163 and Taveuni are billed as ’s ‘friendly north’. The country’s Nabouwalu second- and third-biggest , respectively, are clean, & Around...... 167 green havens languidly trapped in a time before ‘hectic’ was invented: even their epithets – Vanua Levu was once called Wainunu Bay. . . . .167 Sandalwood and Taveuni’s nickname is the Garden Taveuni...... 167 Island – evoke the scents and sights of a land left wild. Waiyevo, Though dusty Labasa is Vanua Levu’s largest town, it’s & Around...... 170 in beautiful, stay-a-little-longer Savusavu where most visi- Matei...... 174 tors drop their bags. Across the Somosomo Strait, Taveuni’s 9000 residents spread themselves between jungle villages and microscopic hamlets along the coast. Everyone on both islands, from the locals to the numerous expats, smile and Best Dive Sites act as if they’ve just awoken from a long nap – and they ¨¨Namena Marine Reserve probably have. (p154) ¨¨Great White Wall (p167) ¨¨Nasonisoni Passage (p154) ¨¨Rainbow Reef (p167) When to Go Savusavu ¨¨Dreamhouse (p154) °C/°F Te mp Rainfall inches/mm 40/104 16/400

12/300 Best Places to 30/86 Stay 8/200 20/68 ¨¨Namena Island Resort 4/100 (p162) 10/50 0 ¨¨Maqai Resort (p178) J FDM A M J J A S O N ¨¨Dolphin Bay Divers Retreat (p173) Apr–Dec Sailing Jul & Sep Usually Nov–Mar Rainy season, when the months with season; Taveuni is ¨ ¨Salt Lake Lodge (p158) Savusavu Bay is the best dive the wettest Fijian ¨¨Gecko Lodge (p157) thick with sail- visibility. island so expect boats from around daily showers (and ¨¨Bibi’s Hideaway (p174) the world. insane greenery). 151 Vanua Levu & Taveuni Vanua Levu

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B N W VANUA LEVU VANUA AIR POP 130,000 8 Flying is the easiest way to get to Vanua Levu. changing coastline forgotten by the world. changing coastline forgotten face and a smile on your keep it slow, Take scale. on its grandest Fiji rural savour falls, endless swaths of forest and an ever-falls, endless swaths islands: many roads are little more than more roads are little islands: many dirt and Labasa, tracks, the island’s rutted is a one-street strip of shops. To ‘city’, largest entices yachties, divers the south, Savusavu and dreamers looking for a tropical idyll. The to sugarcane over is given rest of ‘Big Island’ villages, hideaway plantations, and copra mountain passes streaming with water Though it’s Fiji’s second-largest island, Va island, second-largest Fiji’s Thoughit’s is one of the tropics’nua Levu (Big Island) the from another world secrets.best-kept It’s bustle of more-touristed and the 4 4 44 4 444444444444444444 44 444444444444444444 4444444444 44 44 444444444444 44444444444444444444444444444444444444 44 44444444444444 4444444444 4 444444 4 444444

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