A walk with Peter, Jim or James of Guided Walking Tours, Suva will take you from the frenetic energy of Suva bus stand to the quiet and cool shadows of the Sacred Heart Cathedral.
This juxtaposition of Suva’s landmarks makes the tours stimulating, varied and thought-provoking. But it is the personalised commentary provided by the guides that give the tours their heart and pulse.
The idea for Guided Walking Tours, Suva first germinated as Peter Sipeli was preparing to dash home before Fiji’s borders closed during the Covid pandemic. The poet was undertaking an arts residency in Hong Kong when he realised he would need to return home, but with no income. Then a friend reflected on how good Sipeli was at “telling stories”.
A few years of walking Suva’s not-always-smooth footpaths later, and he now employs two other guides, with a third in training. They are Jim Raiwalui Urunakairewa, well known locally as a singer and actor, and James Rabuatoka , who is a dancer as well as a guide and storyteller.
Sipeli weaves stories of the political history of Fiji and its mixed, migrant communities into his tours. He says each guide brings their own lens—or origin story—to the walks; Jim’s grandmother sells at the market and so introduces his guests to her and other vendors, while James comes from Suvavou, home to Suva’s original landowners.
“Jim’s (tour) is more about his culture, and he comes from the perspective of love,” Sipeli notes, while as a descendant of one of the original landowning families that moved from Suva to Suvavou, James comes from a place of pride, but also questioning of the inequities so evident in Suva.
Sipeli says this pride can also be felt in the response of some tour participants, especially locals (or those returning to their ancestral homes) when they hear of the deep history of Suva.
Guided Walking Tours, Suva welcomes visitors from resorts (the Grand Pacific Hotel, Holiday Inn, Maui Palms and Royal Davui have all been particularly supportive, recommending the tours to their guests), day-trippers from cruise ships that pull into Suva port, members of Intrepid Group tours, expatriates living in Fiji and visiting family and friends of locals.
While the original Suva tour is their most popular, the company also offers a Suva art tour and birdwatching tours at Colo-i-Suva park, just outside the city. The art tours begin at Suva prison’s Tagimoucia Gallery, continue on to Suva Market and the Suva Flea Market to see traditional, cultural goods, then on to various other galleries in Suva, including the Fiji Arts Council and the Epeli Hau’ofa Art Gallery at the University of the South Pacific.
Sipeli says he likes to ensure people on this walk get to met and speak with artists within these galleries; “you get the best interactions when you talk to people on the ground, it just makes for a better experience, those multitudes of interactions.”
In contrast, the birdwatching tours—which are arranged by appointment—start in the quiet of the very early morning and are handled by semi-retired park rangers who take visitors through the forest, often ending with tea and scones in the park’s shaded picnic area.
Sipeli believes his business has thrived because it is meeting the desire of visitors for real experiences. “There is space for nuance and reality,” he says. “I think what I am doing is the future of tourism.”
He believes that despite Fiji’s chequered political history, Fijians “are the most kind, generous people you will ever meet.
“That’s how I frame the tours. That even in our brokenness, we are the best.”
The company also organises the monthly ‘Art, Sip and Savour’ experiences at the Grand Pacific Hotel where guests can try a traditional art such as weaving or masi printing, while enjoying wine and snacks.
