Page 30 - Fiji Traveller Issue 10

The Nanai Emerges

Long ago, two warring chiefs from different clans of Navosa met beside a stream, to make
peace and decide exactly where the boundary between their lands should be.
After much arguing, they agreed that the Nadoi creek, a tributary of the Sigatoka River
would be the boundary between the Burenitu (Serua) and Noimalu (Navosa) communities. To
mark this agreement, they exchanged traditional gifts. Lewatu ni Bovitu of Noimalu presented
the chief Cabeta with freshly caught prawns, saying, “Tavale, this is the Ura Dina, and from
now on these prawns will be your food. There will always be plenty in your streams and they
will never run out!” The Ura Dina (Freshwater shrimp) remains the totem fish for the Burenitu
Clan in the Serua Province.
For his part, Cabeta produced a small cicada which he presented to Lewatu ni Bovitu,
saying, ” Tavale, this is the Nanai. From now on, these cicadas will be your food, but they will
only appear on your land every eight years.”
The Nanai is the totem for the Noimalu Clan in Navosa to this day.
Just as Cabeta promised, the Nanai only appear every eight years but in huge numbers.*
And 2025 is one of those years.
Mareqeti Fiji/Nature Fiji has been running surveys with communities, and in early October,
will be running a series of overnight camps in Garrick Reserve, to witness the emergence of
the Nanai.
The Nanai larvae make their way up from the soil where they have lived for eight long years
as Nymphs. They will dig their way out to emerge into the air for the first time, undergoing an
incredible change to become adults.
The Nanai live for just a few weeks as adults, and in this short time, they must attract a
mate.
The male will begin singing to attract a female and when a pair meet and mate, eggs are
laid in the trees.
The adults soon die but the next life cycle begins when larvae drop off the trees and into the
ground, to re-emerge in 2033!

With thanks to Mareqeti Viti/Nature Fiji
*Adapted from ‘Mai Veikau‘ by Dick Watling.

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