Here on the east, windward side of Taveuni Island in Fiji hundreds of waterfalls cascade down the mountains through the dense jungle. Some of them cascade right into the sea. The only way into this rugged, uninhabited 20 mile stretch of the island is by boat or a trail that extends only about 5 miles into the jungle along the rocky shoreline. This waterfall and the crystal clear pools below it are at the end of Lavena Coastal Walk trail. We came here after 5 days of beautiful diving. After all the great marine life we saw underwater, the Lavena Coast, this waterfall and the pools below it were the highlight of the trip.
We flew over this region in a little plane on the way to Taveuni Island from the main island in Nadi. I had read about the waterfalls and asked the pilot to fly over the east side of the island for us. An hour later he dropped the plane down to 1500 feet and dipped the wing as we flew by, giving us quite a show. There were waterfalls every few seconds, about 1/4 to 1/2 mile apart. The peaks are about 3200 feet high and the island is about 40 miles long by 12 miles wide.
On the last day of our trip we took a van to the end of the road and climbed into a small motorboat to take us down along the coastline to see these falls up close. It's a regular tour they offer in Lavena that was initially funded by the government of New Zealand to help preserve this coastline. We asked the boat skipper to drop us near the end of the trail so we could walk back out and see the coastline and jungle from the shore.
At these pools there was a second, smaller fall to the left that you can't see from here. It had as much water but formed a lower, sloped slide that we climbed and rode down several times. The front two sections of pool are less than 5 feet deep and flow gently. But in the back grotto the water swirled around a 15 foot deep pool in circles that made it hard to swim against. We jumped from behind the big waterfall into the water below it, which was hitting the surface pretty hard. Our guide was an amiable guy named Simone. He climbed a steep cliff to the top of the falls, 35 feet or so up and jumped off into the water. After he landed he climbed up behind the falls and started singing for joy. The Fijians sing quite a bit and it was a wonderful sight to see him happy as a lark in his jungle setting.
I hope you enjoy this photo.
Dave Gaines
