The Lavena Costal Walk

My days at Beverly's passed quickly. What have I done? Eventually only that what you are supposed to do in paradise: nothing. Oh, I admit - glancing from my tent for hours up into the pitch-black sky lit by a myriad of stars. But as mentioned earlier - here I am. After another timeless hour by bus winding along the coast through ever more dense tropical vegetation. At the end of the Northern Pacific Highway! Lavena - a small village that runs on a self-managed basis a simple lodge and maintains the Lavena Coastal Walk along the Bouma National Heritage Park. They don't promote it as "the most beautiful track in the world". No, its a simple coastal walk. Yes, its true, the unspoiled beauty of the sandy beaches served 1991 as the stage for the movie "Return to the Blue Lagoon" - still, the way up to the Wainabu waterfalls is simply called a costal walk.

  

It might well be that the "Fiji Time" was invented in Lavena. The small population of about 400 lives from the richness of nature in a tranquil and astonishing friendly and open way towards its few visitors. And though the road ends at Lavena, there are no cars - except one of the two buses that stays overnight till its daily departure before dawn. After the roaring engine climbed up the first steep hill, the silencing sound of the waves regains command, softening people back into their dreams.

The bus was my sign to prepare for today's hike for a swim with Brooke Shields - up in the refreshing volcanic pools beneath the falls. Oh no, rain starts knocking on the tin-roof. No worries, a cloud comes and goes - and half an hour later the first sunshine confirmed my adventure: Hiking along the wild and scenic coastline up to the spectacular Wanibau double waterfalls. Well, Brooke Shields I missed already for a decade or so on my first visit to Fiji in 1991, but - in line with the metaphor "the journey is the reward" - I met my wife for the first time. Welcome to the magic of Fiji.

  

Lasts paradise forever? Will there be a coastal walk at Lavena in 20 years from now?

Walking along the breathtaking coastline shaped by volcanic activity, overgrown by an incredible variety of plants and trees, unveils also how fragile the Eco-system is to the forces of the sea. A narrow stripe of coral reefs is the only protection against rising sea levels. What is now a picturesque, bizarre landscape of balancing lava rocks on thin coral stands - like golf balls placed by giants on sticks for a new round - seems to me not only as a reminder of changing tides, but eventually changing times too.

  

What do you think? Will nature always have an answer? I remember a small plant finding its way to sunlight in-between the tiles of my roof terrace in Beira. And I can see the new sprout out of the dead trunk in front of me ...