The following activities are offered to guests staying at the village:
The Namatakula village tour:
On your arrival at Namatakula your host Simon Batibasaga, who speaks excellent English, will take you to the community hall where you will be the guests of honour at a traditional "sevu sevu" welcoming ceremony. We suggest homestay guests to Namatakula get one kilo of kava (costing about F$20 to F$30) before arrival - Simon will tell you where to get kava. This kava is presented to the village Chief at the sevu sevu - the Chief then gives you the "keys" to the village. In effect you have the Chief's blessing and have the honour of becoming a member of the village during your Fiji Holidays.
Afterwards Temalasi (Tema) Kurilouvatu, who speaks excellent English, will take you around the village of Namatakula and introduce you to villagers, show you the school, the community hall and the village green. You will also see the grave stones of important village chiefs located just metres away from bures (village houses).
The tour will take you along the beautiful
and sometimes rugged coastline bordering Namatakula. During the tour you
will pass the famous and historic Namatakula burial ground. The burial ground
is in a deep cave high up a rocky cliff facing over the sea. Tema will tell
you the history behind the sacred site which has not been used for many years
now. In true Indiana Jones style the access to the burial cave is narrow
and long - the Fijians having to drag the dead body leading to a large cave
using a burning torch to find their way. Once they arrived in the cave already
lined with a large number of human skeletons they waited until they heard
the spirits clap three times from the spot where the body was to be placed.
After placing the body there they left.
Image Right: Tema talks about the old burial ground in the cave above.
During the tour Tema will take you along some magnificent beaches where you can swim, go exploring coral reefs or collect some lovely shells normally only found in shell shops. (You never find shells like this on beaches near hotels).
Time: about 45 minutes
Free to guests.
The
extended village tour:
At low tide Tema takes you down two kilometers of beautiful coral coastline. You can either go on horseback or by foot. If you go by foot you have the additional benefit of being able to collect an array of shells on a coastline rarely seen by westerners.
When you arrive at the village of Navutulevu you will be greeted by the villagers and invited to have a cup of kava before returning to Namatakula along the beach.
Time: about 1.5 hours.
Cost: F$15 per person
The Coral Coast day tour - exclusive
to village homestay guests
This popular tour in Simon's taxi takes you to the Coral Coast's most beautiful Savunamatelaya waterfall, a trip to Baravi Handycrafts - one of the largest tourist shops in Fiji, lunch at the village of Naroro, a walk around the famous Taveuni Hill, shopping at Sigatoka and a demonstration of traditional pottery making at Lawai village. As a result you will get to meet many Fijians and many Fijian villages during your holidays in Fiji.
Image right: Simon, your personal guide, on the way to the Savunamatelaya waterfall
Great value for a single person at F$100 or F$60 per person (children half price)
Take this link for more details and images about this tour.
Iso (pronounced "Eso") Batibasaga is an accomplished spear fisherman. Iso
catches fish for his family and other villagers each night. He takes visitors
to Namatakula on amazing daylight snorkelling adventures where the guest
snorkels behind and watches Iso hunt fish and chase reef sharks. (It would
be a good idea to buy snorkels and flippers for your children and bring them
with you if you are going to go snorkelling - there are beautiful reefs to
explore).
Image Right: Iso prepared for another spear fishing trip
First hand experience:
Iso gave me a set of flippers, goggles and snorkels and we walked into the cool, clear water off Namatakula. After wading about 100 metres into the ocean Iso told me to follow him and then he dived into the shallow water. Soon we were looking down over the first of the coral reefs and tiny fish just inches below us.
A short while later the land dropped away. The reefs lined subterranean channels intricately carved with little coral caves and bumps. Small brightly coloured fish swam in schools in and out of this morass.
I looked ahead at Iso armed with his home made, but highly effective, speargun his strong young body flowed like a fish through the water - I felt clumsy in comparison as I ploughed after him. The reef now dropped away into deep watery valleys several feet below. Iso stopped and sat waist deep on a protruding reef as he checked then armed his speargun. Moments later we took off again across the shallow reef then in a moment the reef dropped away and I was looking down at another world - a deep magical watery valley at least twenty metres deep in which hundreds of exotic fish swam below. As we swam over the deep gully many fish scampered to the safety of the vertical walls of the reef. While I floated and watched from above Iso started diving deep down into the water and swimming smoothly behind a large school of fish. As I watched I saw a large shape coming from behind - it was a reef shark, its shape unmistakable. Iso had told me that reef sharks were harmless and were excellent food so the passing moment of fear was replaced by the bewitching view of a Fijian about to spear a fish while a reef shark approached.
Iso lined up a fish and within moments his first catch of the day had been strung to his belt. The reef shark scampered away as soon as it saw Iso - fearing man much more than man fears shark. When Iso eventually surfaced he had been under water for over a minute.
For an hour we explored these amazing valleys with the coral walls and exotic fish… we saw many reef sharks - Iso nearly spearing one…. But we were happy with our catch - several Unicorn Fish and all too soon it was time to return to the shore. A truly memorable experience!
Cost F$15 per person (no person under 15).
Line
Fishing
Get on a boat with Iso and spend the day fishing in the Coral Coast off Namatakula - the experience out there in the Namatakula Passage with your own personal guide is a unique experience.
Image right: Happy fisherman with some of his morning catch caught in the Namatakula Passage
Cost F$30 per person per morning or afternoon 5 hour session
Traditional Octopus Catching
Tema, your guide, is an accomplished octopus hunter. On this adventure hunting octopi you will lose all those unwarranted fears you once had of octopus. Octopus hide in small caves in shallow rocky reefs off Namatakula - Tema, who has been catching octopi since childhood knows all the best spots.
Image right: Tema holds an octopus she caught and killed in the reef off Namatakula
There is no snorkelling or swimming required - simply walk out on the reef at low tide with Tema and watch as she, first, prods small caves in the rock. When there is an octopus in that cave it rushes out and Tema immediately goes into action catching the octopus behind the head and literally squeezing her hand into the hollow and turning its head inside out - immediately killing the octopus. She catches quite big octopus in this manner.
The octopi hunt with Tema, who speaks fluent English, is a fantastic experience and one that you will never forget - don't forget to take your camera!
Cost F$15 per person.
Spend a day in a Fijian Classroom
Judith is a school teacher and would be delighted to have qualified or teachers in training to join her and her class for the day.
Image right: Judith with her class in 2003
Free
All food eaten at Namatakula is either caught off the reef or grown in the village.
Other activities include: scuba diving, traditional basket and mat making etc..
