Page 13 - Fiji Traveller Issue 1

Finding tranquillity,

awe and adventure

Namosi Eco Retreat

By Ariela Zibiah
Photos: Zoomfiji

The Namosi Eco Retreat, nestled in a remote part of Fiji, is a getaway in all sense of the
word. The sky feels bigger, the milky way appears to be at arm’s length, the air is crisp,
and you are completely off grid, creating a feeling of being cocooned in a different world.
The state of “just being” is attainable here, whether you are on the lawn trying to place
the different noises your ears may be hearing for the first time, or building a bilibili (river
bamboo raft) with the village kids, you are present, the elements lean in and ground you.
You learn soon enough not to bother with your gadgets. All representations of your life
dissolve with the passing landscape as you make your way up to the retreat: even a Kindle
is out of place. You almost feel guilty of sullying the air around you with a machine.
You feel how much cooler the air is when you turn into Namosi Road to make the winding,
albeit extraordinarily beautiful, two-hour-long drive up to the hills: punctuated by villages
and people walking to their plantations or children swimming. Mysterious mist-covered
jagged cliffs stun you, there are no words.
The awe one feels when driving up Namosi is not new, as reflections in 1865 by J.B.
Thurston, who later became Fiji’s Governor and High Commissioner for the Western
Pacific, show. In his journal of July 27th, during the first attempt to cross Viti Levu, Thurston
notes: “Came round by Vovua Peak (referred to today as Voma) and saw Namosi lying in
the valley beneath us. Scenery very fine. Precipitous basalt cliffs all around ... Fine points
of scenery. Fertile valley along shaddock trees”.
The silence, the sense of calm and connection to land and the river, is an all-encompassing
detox the brain and the body experience, every single time we make it to the Namosi Eco
Retreat.
Namosi is steeped in Fiji history and culture. Today, however, we chose it for its
tranquillity and balming effect on our souls. Without roads or transportation as we know
it today, one can only imagine the grueling cross undertaken by Thurston and his lot. It is
still a punishing cross, if the world’s toughest race, captured in an Amazon original, Eco-
Challenge Fiji, is anything to go by.
The terrain still makes for exhilarating if exhausting hikes, which are one of the many
activities that guests can enjoy in untouched natural environment. Returning to base is

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