being bird watchers it is always well worth
stopping at Kula Eco Park near Sigatoka,
just off Queens Rd along the Coral Coast
to Suva. This park is very well run and has
a great collection of indigenous species
that are frequently missed in the wild. They
exhibit most of the parrots of the islands,
in large well-maintained aviaries.
I often travel with Ian Ward and Colin
Morgan, friends from Sydney, to share
costs in car hire and accommodation,
thereby making our trips affordable and
allowing us to explore more countries to
see diverse species. Unfortunately, Ian
wasn’t able to come on this trip. Colin andI booked in for a few days at Novotel Lami,
just west of Suva and right on the coast. It
served us well as a base as it was roughly
in the middle of the area we wished to
search for birds.
We drove off at 6.15am to the Colo-i-
Suva area, which is protected for local
wildlife. Rainforest Eco Resort offers
accommodation right at the park and many
of Fiji’s forest-dwelling birds can be seen
in this area, a short drive along Prince’s Rd
out of Suva. We drove past the entrance to
the lodge with our car windows open and
heard the loud raucous calls of a Masked
Shining Parrot Prosopeia personata.AUTHOR AND IMAGES PETER ODEKERKENWE LIVE IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO FIJI
and many Australians enjoy holidays there
at reasonable cost, and the wonderful
hospitality of the Fijian people. Fiji is
geared to accommodate tourists both on a
budget and those that can afford a
luxury holiday.
My travels centre around bird watching,
and Fiji has a surprising number of species
for a Pacifi c Island group, including
some incredible parrot species, which
are my passion. This family of birds is
under threat worldwide due to habitat
destruction and the desire for humans to
keep them in captivity.
A visit to Fiji can produce some of the
most colourful birds of the world, such as
the Orange Dove Chrysoenas victor from
Vanua Levu and Taveuni and off shore
islands. This island nation comprises
approximately 320 islands, with by far the
largest being Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.
On my recent trip I decided to visit
the main island and the garden island
of Taveuni. I have visited these islands
for short periods for work, but this trip
involved only bird watching.
VITU LEVU
We landed at Nadi, on the dry side of the
island of Viti Levu and, although there are
great birds in the area, I aimed to visit the
wet side of the island in the south-east in
the vicinity of the capital, Suva. Of course,
Collared Lories feeding in an introduced
Umbrella Tree—note the brush-like papillae
of the tongue as it harvests nectarDISCOVERING FIJI’S
Colourful Birdlife
Barking Pigeons are common in Fijian forests and named after their dog-like calls