Page 12 - Fiji Traveller 7

HERE BE

DOLPHINS

By Anirbhan Mahapatra

Perched on a forlorn and forested tip of the northeastern
coastline of Viti Levu, Moon Reef is not exactly the iconic
Fijian destination that glossy magazine features or glitzy travel
expositions would have you believe. There are no resort-lines
beaches here, or fine restaurants, or festive markets or floating
clubs for that matter. On the best of days, urbanity manifests
its presence here in the form of a solitary bar of signal on your
mobile phone. Indeed, most tourists who visit Fiji return to their
homes without even hearing about the place, let alone seeing it
with their own eyes.
Except of course the most intrepid travellers — like my friend
Dirk. Some years ago, shortly before I arrived to live in Fiji, Dirk
and I were sitting over breakfast in another corner of the world,
flipping through a guidebook for independent travellers planning
to visit Fiji. ‘Moon Reef!’ he suddenly exclaimed, poring over the
book with excitement. ‘One of only a couple of reliable places in
Fiji to spot dolphins!’ His words caught my ear like a guard dog
picking up a rustle in the woods. ‘So this is where we must go
when I visit you in Fiji,’ Dirk said, looking visibly enthused. Of
course we must, I replied with sincerity. This sounded like a good
plan already.
Cut to two years later. It’s a hot and humid late-summer
week in Suva, and Dirk and his wife Karin have finally come
to Fiji on their South Pacific holiday. Seizing the opportunity to
execute our long-laid plan, the three of us leave Suva early one
morning, and drive almost 85 kilometres — the last stretch on an
unmarked and seemingly unending gravelled track meandering
through the woods — to reach Silana, a tiny oceanside village of
pretty homes skirted by a sublimely beautiful black-sand beach.
Stepping out of the car, we realise this is perhaps as far as one Photos: Tom Vierus/Pacific Media House

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