Building The Bamboo Spa
Jul 29, 2011
Jul 26, 2011
My new favorite place on the planet! - TripAdvisor
My husband and I spent a week at Matava and were immediately working on ways to stay longer or at least return next year. This is definitely a place to get away from it all and enjoy the real Fiji. Don't expect wireless internet (or even power outlets) in your room, a swimming pool, or white sandy beaches. But if you want to meet great people (staff, locals, and fellow travelers), experience awesome diving, snorkeling, fishing (all deep sea, you can't fish within the reef), kayaking, and hiking, and enjoy some of the freshest, tastiest food around, this is the place to go.
We spent one day fishing, two days diving, one day solo kayaking and snorkeling, and one fabulous day on a guided kayak/snorkel trip that included lunch in a local village and a hike to a waterfall through the rain forest. We also had a nice romantic dinner in our bure one night, and a lovo feast and kava party another.
This is truly the real Fiji, there are very few roads and cars on the island, most of which are located near the airport. Access to the resort is by a 45 minute boat ride over some of the most beautiful waters you've ever seen.
We can't thank Maggie, Cherie, Ta, Cita, Adrian, Glen, Lisa, Tay, Tox, and the whole gang at Matava enough. This was a truly amazing experience that gave a whole new perspective and hopefully lifelong friends.
My new favorite place on the planet! - TripAdvisor
We spent one day fishing, two days diving, one day solo kayaking and snorkeling, and one fabulous day on a guided kayak/snorkel trip that included lunch in a local village and a hike to a waterfall through the rain forest. We also had a nice romantic dinner in our bure one night, and a lovo feast and kava party another.
This is truly the real Fiji, there are very few roads and cars on the island, most of which are located near the airport. Access to the resort is by a 45 minute boat ride over some of the most beautiful waters you've ever seen.
We can't thank Maggie, Cherie, Ta, Cita, Adrian, Glen, Lisa, Tay, Tox, and the whole gang at Matava enough. This was a truly amazing experience that gave a whole new perspective and hopefully lifelong friends.
My new favorite place on the planet
My husband and I spent a week at Matava and were immediately working on ways to stay longer or at least return next year. This is definitely a place to get away from it all and enjoy the real Fiji. Don't expect wireless internet (or even power outlets) in your room, a swimming pool, or white sandy beaches. But if you want to meet great people (staff, locals, and fellow travelers), experience awesome diving, snorkeling, fishing (all deep sea, you can't fish within the reef), kayaking, and hiking, and enjoy some of the freshest, tastiest food around, this is the place to go.
We spent one day fishing, two days diving, one day solo kayaking and snorkeling, and one fabulous day on a guided kayak/snorkel trip that included lunch in a local village and a hike to a waterfall through the rain forest. We also had a nice romantic dinner in our bure one night, and a lovo feast and kava party another.
This is truly the real Fiji, there are very few roads and cars on the island, most of which are located near the airport. Access to the resort is by a 45 minute boat ride over some of the most beautiful waters you've ever seen.
We can't thank Maggie, Cherie, Ta, Cita, Adrian, Glen, Lisa, Tay, Tox, and the whole gang at Matava enough. This was a truly amazing experience that gave a whole new perspective and hopefully lifelong friends.
We spent one day fishing, two days diving, one day solo kayaking and snorkeling, and one fabulous day on a guided kayak/snorkel trip that included lunch in a local village and a hike to a waterfall through the rain forest. We also had a nice romantic dinner in our bure one night, and a lovo feast and kava party another.
This is truly the real Fiji, there are very few roads and cars on the island, most of which are located near the airport. Access to the resort is by a 45 minute boat ride over some of the most beautiful waters you've ever seen.
We can't thank Maggie, Cherie, Ta, Cita, Adrian, Glen, Lisa, Tay, Tox, and the whole gang at Matava enough. This was a truly amazing experience that gave a whole new perspective and hopefully lifelong friends.
Jul 23, 2011
Fiji feels like paradise - The Boston Globe
To travel 7,500 miles for a five-star, air-conditioned villa on the beach would have been to miss the heart of Fiji. That was not what I had in mind as I traveled with a 50-pound suitcase of medical supplies from the East Coast to Fiji’s Nadi International Airport and on to Kadavu.Fiji feels like paradise - The Boston Globe
Rising from the sea in a wall of densely forested mountains, Kadavu, the fourth largest of Fiji’s 333 islands, is surrounded by Great Astrolabe, the world’s fourth largest barrier reef. Eight years ago, after sailing through Fiji’s Yasawa archipelago, I came here on a whim and ended up pledging to provide medical supplies for one of the villages. Now I was returning to fulfill that promise and explore the closest place to paradise I had ever been.
Kadavu’s seduction is twofold: the seclusion of an almost uninhabited island and a culture so embracing that you do not feel alone. Divers come here to drift down the five Great Astrolabe reef passages. Snorkelers like me find opportunities to wriggle through soft coral gardens fringing bay after deeply indented bay.
For my 10-day stay the thunderous reef breaks and empty gold and white beaches seemed to belong to only a few visitors. Of course, they do not. Kadavu is home to 75 small villages where smartphones and tradition coexist to a surprising degree. Seemingly poor, they are rich with natural resources that still sustain them. A growing number of eco-resorts help preserve their environment and way of life.
When I met Adrian Watt, Richard Akhtar, and Jeanie Mailliard on my first trip, they had just left high-powered jobs to become the owners of Matava Resort on Kadavu’s southeast coast. Recently joined by co-owner Stuart Gow, they set a gold standard on the island for blending with the local ethos while building a full-service adventure outfit.
Almost invisible from the water, nine grass-and-wood “bures,’’ or bungalows, keep alive a natural construction method that Fijians are forsaking for concrete. Solar-powered hot showers and ocean breezes for air conditioning make guests feel virtuously green. One of Akhtar’s first acts on arriving was to negotiate a no-take agreement with his Kadavu Koro village neighbors who own the fishing rights in the area. The result is a flourishing marine preserve around little Waya Island, a short swim from the resort’s dock.
Mailliard’s first project was an organic garden that supplies her gourmet menu, considered the island’s best. Dinners under the tall, open-air “bure-levu,’’ communal meeting space, bring guests together at lantern-lighted tables where the highlight could be a coconut-infused curry, or Fijian “kakoda,’’ citrus-cooked raw fish, made with your own deep sea catch of the day.
As Matava’s guests, we were welcomed not only to Kadavu Koro’s waterfall, at 80 feet the island’s tallest, but also to the village.
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