Fijian Village
A Village we stayed in on a trip upriver from Singatoka. It had quite an interesting history; it was originally founded in the 1800s by an Englishman. He’d been left off a boat in Tonga following a disagreement with the captain and the Tongans brought him to Fiji to try to find another boat. At that time there was a chief in the highlands nearby who was infamous for his cannibalism and against all advice (and some would say his better judgement) John Humphrey Danford headed up to say hi. The cannibal didn’t eat him and instead used him as an intermediary in negotiations with visiting Europeans (who he presumably also didn’t eat). Mr Danford ended up being so useful to the chief that he was given a wife from the chief’s family and some land to found his own village. The young children in the village are the 7th generation of descendants and all 150 residents are part of an extended family still bearing the Danford family name.
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Stephen Colquitt
Very interesting piece of history there Rhona. Im hoping to hit up fiji this year for some more diving. Was it difficult to get to Singatoka?
Rhona replied
hi Stephen – not at all difficult, there are regular public buses and minibuses from Nadi bus station (and the same from Suva).
Come to Vanuatu for diving too if you can – some of the diving around Santo island sounds amazing, in particular a WW2 ship the Coolridge.
Stephen Colquitt
I dived that shipwreck in Vanuatu a few years ago. It was fantastic!
Rhona replied
jealous! i’ll have to go back…