 GENERAL INFO (Jump to Diary)Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean, and the bigger of the island countries in the region. It covers 330 islands and 500 islets with an area of 18,300 square kilometres. The majority of Fiji's islands were formed by volcanic activity starting around 150 million years ago, and Vanua Levu and Taveuni still have a bit of activity. The highest point is Mount Tomani  vi with 1,324 metres, found on
Viti Levu.Fiji have a total population of 924,610 citizens of which 64% are Christians, 28% Hindi, 6% Muslims along with a few Sikhs. 87% live on the two major islands; Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. The islands were found by humans around 4,000 years ago, first Austronesians and later Melanesians, with some Polynesian influences while the Europeans first visited Fiji in the 17th century. The British established the Colony of Fiji.  Fiji operated as a Crown colony until 1970,
when it gained independence and became known as the Dominion of Fiji.Fiji contains two eco-regions: Fiji tropical moist forests and Fiji tropical dry forests, which give room for lowland rainforest, upland rainforest, cloud forest, tropical dry forest, shrub grassland, mangroves, coastal strand forest and ofcause man-made agroforests. The climate in Fiji is tropical marine and warm year round with minimal extremes. Here  is some fauna,
and it would be cool to spot the Fijian Ground Frog; Platymantis vitiana
and the Fiji Crested Iguana; Brachylophus vitiensis and the Central
Fijian banded iguana; Brachylophus bulabula. The mammals count some
species of bats and a some whales. The birdlife is rich, with several
endemic species like the orange fruit dove; Ptilinopus victor, the
Fiji parrotfinch, Erythrura pealii, the crimson shining parrot,
Prosopeia splendens, the red-throated lorikeet, Vini amabilis,
the masked shining parrot; Prosopeia personata and the whistling
fruit dove; Ptilinopus layardi - and all the other colourful birds.The flora is way more rich. Fiji also has its own endemic family of flowering trees, the Degeneraceae, which I would love to see - along with some of the other 475 plant genera, found here. Here should be some caudiciforms; Nine species of Squamellaria, Angiopteris evecta, Ipomoea obscura, Gyrocarpus americanus, Crinum asiaticum, Barringtonia racemosa and Amorphophallus paeoniifolius.
Date?
This is just an intention. Perhaps in winter 2025-'26? Time to head on in Diary 2. |
