Warwick Resort
We left Port Denarau, heading for the Coral Coast of Viti Levu, passing fields of sugar cane, coconut palms, rain trees, and lush tropical vegetation. Traveling on the Queen’s Highway, the area is dotted with villages. Our destination was the Warwick Resort & Spa, with its own white sandy beach, spacious grounds, lovely rooms, and shallow waters leading out to the coral reef, where we enjoyed a leisurely five nights.
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Whether lounging around the pool, reading a book on a hammock on the beach or our balcony, pedaling around the water in a two-person paddle boat, or just enjoying time spent with family, our time at the Warwick was wonderfully relaxing.
A highlight of our time on the Coral Coast was the Sigatoka River Safari which included a village visit. A driver picked us up at the resort right after breakfast. When we got to the Sigatoka River, we donned life vests and boarded a jet boat with Captain Freddy, who told us about the village people who live and farm the area as we made our way up the river. The Sigatoka Valley is known as “Fiji’s Salad Bowl” because of its fertile land and high production of fresh fruits and vegetables. Along the way we passed women washing clothes on the riverbank, and a boy tending his two water buffalo, the typical
means of plowing and working the land.
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After the yaqona ceremony, our guide, Maggie, took us on a tour around the village, visiting some homes, the church, and the communal kitchen. Then
it was back to the community building where the village women had prepared a
delicious lunch for us, followed by dancing and the villagers singing us the traditional
Farewell Song, "Isa Lei".
The Warwick Resort offered four restaurants, nightly themed buffet dinners, and entertainment throughout the day and evening at various venues, including a fire dancing presentation.
We spent the next morning at Kula Eco Park, an ecological preserve featuring Fiji's indigenous plants and animals.
We enjoyed strolling the wooden walkways through the forested grounds, seeing a variety of birds in the walk-through aviaries, and getting up close to the Park's iguanas and snakes. There were also reptiles, aquariums, and a chance to feed the turtles.
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