Sigatoka Sand Dunes N.P, Fiji

At the mouth of the Sigatoka River, there are over 600 acres of towering dunes. This is Fiji’s first national park, the Sigatoka Sand Dunes National Park. It’s primarily made up of parabolic dunes. That is the stereotypical sand dune, the one that rises in a sharp U or V shape, with one side shadowed and concave, and the other convex. 

The dunes are incredibly impressive, towering above me like mountains, and they’re a popular spot for all kinds of novel activities. Dune surfing (or boarding) is popular here. This is a thrilling sport identical to snowboarding, except that it’s practised on sand. I watch the surfers (or boarders?) speed and snake down the slopes. It looks thrilling, and the surfers seem very pleased with themselves at the bottom, high-fiving and cheering before heading back up to the top for another run.

But the dunes aren’t the only reason to visit this national park. Perhaps surprisingly, this is a hotspot of biodiversity. Some of the most interesting inhabitants of the park are the trees, which are found nowhere else on the islands. They make up what is called a ‘dry forest’, a forest that clings onto the dry, sandy soil. The trees are adapted to the shifting ground, the sea salt spray and the lack of water and nutrients. The result is a forest full of shorter trees, with twisted, gnarled branches and trunks, hugged by thick vines.

Of course, where there are trees, there’s wildlife. Hundreds of different species make the forest home, many of them endangered. Birds are especially prevalent, and the forests are alive with the twittering and singing of the Fiji wood swallow, the collared lory, and the bush warbler. Looking up to the sky, I see hovering the Fiji goshawk, a small bird of prey that possesses a somewhat cruel, brutal beauty, with its deep yellow eyes, sharp hooked beak and gunmetal grey or rich mahogany plumage. 

It’s not just natural history that’s found here, but also the stories of Fiji’s ancient ancestors. As the park is buffeted by the South Sea trade winds, the dunes constantly shift, changing shape and revealing treasures buried deep underneath them. This has resulted in a great amount of well-preserved finds, mainly pottery, from the Lapita people, from which Fijians claim descent.

The Lapita, a neolithic culture that lived about 3000 years ago, are mysterious, most of their history now lost to the mists of time. Much of what we do know about them comes from their pottery, which is highly sophisticated, featuring distinctive geometric patterns pressed into the pot before firing (see attached image for an example), but also occasionally some zoomorphic (animal-shaped) designs have been found. Other than that, we know they came from the north, perhaps the Philippines, and migrated here on canoes, colonising many islands in Oceania on their way.

I take a walk around the site of the archaeological dig, wondering whether I can catch a glimpse of this lost people. There are a few tiny potsherds around, and whilst they’re nothing impressive, I take a second to hold in my palm an object crafted by another human hand more than 2000 years ago.