Nananu-i-Ra Island - Paradise made accessible

One Beach, Nananu-i-Ra
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Nananu-i-Ra Island just off Viti Levu's northern coast is just a picture perfect little island, which can be easily reached from mainland Viti Levu. There are several small boats, mainly directly supplied by the hotels on Nananu-i-Ra, that offer transportation to the island, which can be reached in under ten minutes boat ride. There are also ferries departing Ellington Wharf for Vanua Levu, Fiji's second biggest island.

Since we just arrived at Ellington Wharf on time, Rob the friendly owner of the Betham's Beach Cottages, was already expecting us. After a short boat ride we were happy to finally have arrived on beautiful Nananu-i-Ra Island and the sunset was about to commence. Viti Levu's north coast and the first appearance of Nananu-i-Ra island rather reminded us on the Scottish Highlands than on an exotic, tropical island somewhere in the South Pacific. After arriving on the island at the Beach Cottages a friendly lady explained to us some of the rules and limitations, like no hot water all day and no power supply after 10 pm. She showed us a little grocery shop and pointed out some of the extra service charges involved with things like making a local phone call or taking one of the books out of the book exchange. The room was clean and well maintained. The beach starts right in front of the bungalows and offers a nice view on mainlaind Viti Levu. There is good snorkeling right off the beach and a lot of small fishes can be seen, due to regular fish feedings here. One day we rented a Kayak and paddled towards another small private island opposite of Nananu-i-Ra. A local women told us that the island used to be a huge plantation, but nowadays only occupies a summer residence of an American couple.

...a picture perfect little island, which can be easily reached from mainland Viti Levu

One Beach, Nananu-i-Ra
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On the next morning we decided to start the track which should lead us around the island. The Lonely Planet travel guide suggested to commence walking at low tide. We started anyhow and crossed the island along a small path between the bungalow developments, which should lead us to the backside of the island. Once we arrived there after a couple minutes of walking we were amazed how different the scenery was: white sand, palm trees and the turquoise ocean. The track should lead us along several other deserted beaches. Due to the high tide we had to climb quite a lot along rocky surfaces. Once in a while we took short breaks, swam in the ocean and just absorbed the islands' beauty. After a couple of hours we came to a point were getting on was almost impossible. Mangroves in the water hindered us to go on there; therefore we had to climb a small mountain and cut our way through vast scrubland.

View over mainland Viti Levu
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On the way back down we could spot far in the distance one of the most beautiful, deserted virgin stretches of beach ever: One Beach. This beach has it all: silicate white sand, hundreds of palm trees with coconuts and an amazing reef system nearby.You could easily get the impression that you were the first person ever to set a foot on that piece of sand. Unfortunately, as we have been told, there is a resort development planned for One Beach in the near future. We strolled along the beach for a while until we found signs of civilisation in form of painted white arrows on stones, which would directly lead us to the Nananu Lodge. We followed a small trail and climbed up a hill again to once again get stunning views over One Beach, nearby Reef systems and mainland Viti Levu. We stopped at Nananu Lodge, a small budget backpacker style accomodation, for a drink and asked a friendly boatsman to take us back to the Betham's Beach Cottages.