Fiji Islands

[Christiana Hanaman]

Flora and fauna of Fiji

Fiji has more than three hundred islands, four of which are of a significant size. From largest to smallest these four islands are named: Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, Kadavu Island, and Taveuni Island. The Fiji islands are home to numerous indigenous flora and fauna.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_and_fauna_of_Fiji

[Christiana Hanaman]

Vanua Levu

Vanua Levu (pronounced [βaˈnua ˈleβu]), formerly known as Sandalwood Island, is the second largest island of Fiji. Located 64 kilometres to the north of the larger Viti Levu, the island has an area of 5,587.1 km² and a population of some 130,000

[Christiana Hanaman]

Geologists believe that Vanua Levu is an amalgamation of several islands that melded through successive stages of uplift. The main part of the island is roughly shaped like a tall, thin triangle 30 to 50 kilometers in width and 180 kilometres in length, rotated so that the point is to the northeast. This point, the northernmost in the Fiji chain, is Udu Point. From the southeastern side of this triangle, a long peninsula stretches out into the Koro Sea. The island is surrounded by coral reefs, and is rough and hilly.

The island is divided horizontally by a rugged mountain range, which forms much of the boundary between the Provinces of Cakaudrove and Macuata. The highest peaks are Mount Batini, also known as Nasorolevu, with an altitude of 1111 meters, and, 16 kilometers further north-east, Dikeva, also known as Mount Thurston, with an altitude of 1030 meters. Vanua Levu's main mountain ranges lie near the windward, southern coasts, making them much wetter. Northern Vanua Levu, by contrast, is dry eight months of the year, enabling sugar cane, the island's major crop, to thrive there. Vanua Levu has a number of rivers, including the Labasa, the Wailevu, and the Qawa. These three form a delta on which the town of Labasa stands. None of the island's rivers are navigable by large vessels.

[Christiana Hanaman]

Island of Vanua Levu, Fiji, as viewed from the ferry, approaching the port of Nabouwalu

[Christiana Hanaman]

The island's main population centres are the towns of Labasa, in the north, and Savusavu, located at the foot of the peninsula. Labasa, with a population of almost 25,000 at the 1996 census, has a large Indian community, and is a major centre of Fiji's sugar industry. Savusavu is smaller, with a population of just under 5000, but is a popular centre for tourists owing to its diving and yachting facilities. The main industry on the island is sugar cane production, especially in the north. Copra is also an important crop. Tourism is now becoming a major industry on Vanua Levu also.

[Christiana Hanaman]

The island's main population centres are the towns of Labasa, in the north, and Savusavu, located at the foot of the peninsula. Labasa, with a population of almost 25,000 at the 1996 census, has a large Indian community, and is a major centre of Fiji's sugar industry. Savusavu is smaller, with a population of just under 5000, but is a popular centre for tourists owing to its diving and yachting facilities. The main industry on the island is sugar cane production, especially in the north. Copra is also an important crop. Tourism is now becoming a major industry on Vanua Levu also.

[Christiana Hanaman]

History

The Dutch navigator Abel Tasman was the first known European to sight Vanua Levu, in 1643. He was followed by Captain William Bligh in 1789, en route to Timor while escaping from the Mutiny on the Bounty, in which his crew had forced him and those loyal to him off deck and cast them adrift in a lifeboat. Duff skipper James Wilson subsequently explored the area in 1797.

Traders began exploiting sandalwood thickets in the Bua Bay area around 1805, which had been discovered by shipwrecked sailors of the schooner Argo.[1] By 1815, however, the supply had been depleted and apart from the occasional visit from whalers and bêche-de-mer traders, the island received little further attention until 1840, when a young sailor known as Jackson deserted his crew at Somosomo on the nearby island of Taveuni, was adopted by a local Chief, and explored much of eastern and northern Vanua Levu.

Settlers from Australia and New Zealand established coconut plantations in the Savusavu area in the 1860s. Intermarriage with Fijian people produced a mixed-race elite, which also prospered from the sale of copra, of which Savusavu was a major centre, until the Great Depression of the 1930s led to a collapse in the price of copra. In the same period, Indians founded the town of Labasa, now a major sugar-producing centre.

[Christiana Hanaman]

Viti Levu

Viti Levu (pronounced [ˈβitʃi ˈleβu]) is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji, the site of the nation's capital, Suva, and home to a large majority of Fiji's population.

[Christiana Hanaman]

The largest island, Viti Levu is home to 70% of the population (about 600,000) and is the hub of the entire archipelago. It measures 146 kilometers long and 106 kilometers wide and has an area of 10,389 square kilometers comparable to the size of The Big Island of Hawaii or slightly smaller than Connecticut. Geologists believe that Viti Levu has been submerged a number of times, and has been covered by lava and other volcanic materials. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions account for the somewhat rugged terrain of the island, which is divided into roughly equal halves by a north-south mountain range. The eastern side of the island experiences heavy rainfall, while the western side is noticeably drier. Accordingly, sugar cane production thrives in the west, while a dairy industry is being built in the east. Fiji's biggest cattle ranch, with 7000 head of cattle in its 70 square kilometres, is at Yaqara, halfway between Tavua and Rakiraki. The centre of the island is forested and includes the nation's highest peak Mount Tomanivi (otherwise Mount Victoria) rising to 1,324 meters. The island is the only known home of one of the world's largest insects, the Giant Fijian long-horned beetle.

[Christiana Hanaman]

Viti Levu hosts the capital city of Suva, and is home to nearly three quarters of the population of the Republic (about 580,000). Other important towns, all around the coast, include Ba, Lautoka, Nadi, Nausori, Rakiraki, and Sigatoka. One major road has been built around the perimeter of Viti Levu. Well-known localities include Natadola Beach, Pacific Harbour (a resort center about 50 kilometers from Suva).

[Christiana Hanaman]

History

Viti Levu is believed to have been inhabited longer than the northern island of Vanua Levu. According to oral traditions, the first Melanesian settlers landed at Vuda Point and established Viseisei, believed to be Fiji's oldest settlement, nearby although archeologists refute this claim.

[Christiana Hanaman]

Topography of Viti Levu

[Christiana Hanaman]

Beach at Korotogo, Coral Coast of Viti Levu, Fiji.

[Christiana Hanaman]

Navala village, Viti Levu, Fiji.

[Christiana Hanaman]

Kadavu Island

Kadavu (pronounced [kanˈdaβu]), with an area of 411 square kilometers (159 sq mi), is the fourth largest island in Fiji, and the largest island in the Kadavu Group, a volcanic archipelago consisting of Kadavu, Ono, Galoa and a number of smaller islands in the Great Astrolabe Reef. Its main administrative centre is Vunisea, which has an airport, a high school, a hospital, and a government station, on the Namalata Isthmus where the island is almost cut in two. Suva, Fiji's capital, lies 88 kilometers to the north of Kadavu. The population of the island province was 10,167 at the most recent census in 2007.

Kadavu Island belongs to Kadavu Province.