Trapped in an Impenetrable Jungle


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Oceania » Fiji » Mamanuca Islands » Tokoriki Island
July 19th 2011
Published: March 18th 2021
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Next and final stop was Tokoriki Resort, one of two resorts on Tokoriki Island in the northern Mamanucas. It was adults only. We hadn't been to one of those before so we weren't quite sure what to expect. You had to be at least fourteen before they'd let you stay there. Troy was exactly that, so we only just scraped in. We got off the ferry and walked through the pool area to reception. It was so quiet. We were too scared to open our mouths. Most of the other guests seemed to be floating silently on sunbeds in the pool. Splashing was clearly banned, and we began to wonder whether swimming might be a no-no as well. The guests that weren't in the pool were all lying noislessly on sunbeds, the silence broken only by the occasional rustle of paper as a page was turned. I didn't think we could go for more than a few minutes without at least two of us yelling at each other, so it was surely just a matter of time before we got evicted. Our best hope was that everyone was just hungover from the night before, and the place would liven up a bit when the paracetamol had had a chance to kick in.

Our offspring were in a bure on the beach, and we were in a slightly larger one, a bit further back in the garden. "Slightly larger" is probably underselling it just a tad. It had a large bedroom, an even larger living area, and its own plunge pool set in an enormous deck overlooking the beach. It was really a bit over the top luxurious for humble old us, but we were here now, so we thought we'd better make sure we enjoyed it.

We walked silently to dinner, and were shown to the only table in the restaurant that wasn't set for two. We managed to whisper our way through entree. The silence was then broken by the apparent tradition of one of the staff members introducing the new arrivals. We listened to four variants of "please welcome and from ", followed by polite applause. Now it was our turn. "...and the Sheehan Family from Australia", with what sounded to me like strong emphasis on the word "family". Were those groans of horror and disbelief I heard that a "family" had been allowed into their midst, or was I not for the first time perhaps letting my imagination get the better of me. I ordered another beer. The resort band started playing. They asked us if we had any requests. We told them that Troy was a musician, and they invited him up to play with them. This was better. The bass instrument was effectively a thick piece of string attached to a box, and Troy seemed to get the hang of it fairly quickly. Their signature tune was "Hotel Tokoriki" sung to the tune of The Eagles' "Hotel California". This was much better; I love The Eagles. Maybe it might be possible to relax here after all. I hoped I'd still feel this way in the morning after the beer had worn off.

The manager and his wife were an Australian couple who told us they'd been there for several years. She signed us in, and suggested we take a short hike up the hill to a lookout overlooking the resort. She then quickly added that she'd never been there. Huh? This was clearly not a hike for the fainthearted, either that or .... well I couldn't really come up with an "or". She didn't seem to have an obvious disability. We put on our hiking boots and set off, hoping that we might make it up there unscathed in time to see the sunset. We wondered what was going to confront us - dangerous wild animals, near vertical cliffs, impenetrable jungle? A few relaxed minutes later we were standing on the peak. I guess maybe some people just aren't into lookouts. The views over the reef and surrounding islands were stunning.

Mosquitoes can sometimes be a bit of a problem in paradise. No surprise there. I think I remember reading somewhere that the mosquito is responsible for more fatalities than any creature on the planet - malaria, dengue fever, and now the Zika virus. Our offspring had discovered the mosquito coils in their bure. You light them before you go to bed and the smell is supposed to keep the mosquitoes away. I'd never thought of leaving one in a bathroom, but it had been a while since I'd been a teenager. It did seem to be just a bit overly warm in their bathroom when I happened in there one morning. The toothpaste tube had all but completely melted, and I suspect I got there just in time to stop the deodorant can from exploding. At least no one got malaria.

We took a day trip to nearby Monuriki Island where the 2000 movie "Castaway" starring Tom Hanks was filmed. It was small and uninhabited and apparently only became a tourist attraction after the film was released. The beach was excellent, and I could think of far worse places to get shipwrecked ... or planewrecked, if that's a word. We took another day trip to another nearby island to visit the local village and school. They told us that the school had only been built recently, and before that the village children had to hike two hours each way up over the jungle clad mountains every day to get to what was until then the only other school on the island. I think perhaps Fijian children might take their education just a tad more seriously than their Aussie counterparts.....

We spent nine nights on Tokoriki. For me this was a just a little bit too much time to be spent doing very little. I know, I thought, I can walk around the island. It's not very big; how hard can it be. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there didn't seem to be overly many members of my brood breaking their necks to join me. Off I set in my thongs and shorts. I had a quick look around the island's other resort, which was just around the point. It wasn't adults only, and it seems I'd gotten used to the silence of our new home away from home quite quickly. People were talking. Loudly. The noise! I trudged on along deserted beaches interrupted only by the occasional rocky headland. I must be nearly all the way around I thought. But wait. What's this? A sheer vertical cliff rising straight up out of the sea, pounded by several metre high waves? Where's the deserted beach to walk along. Hmmmm. Decision time. Do I walk all the way back the way I came? No, that would be boring. I know, I'll climb up over the island's peak. Surely the resort is only a few hundred metres away up over the other side. How hard could that be. It started gently enough, but the slope then seemed to get a bit steeper.... and steeper and steeper. Thongs now didn't seem like such a great choice of footwear. I decided after a while that it might just be possible after all not to slip all the way back down the cliff to my death - maybe the vines I was hauling myself up with mightn't break, and maybe there'd be just enough tree forks that I could wedge my feet into to hold myself in place. It started to flatten out again. The jungle wasn't as dense, and this was now just a pleasant afternoon stroll. But wait. The jungle was getting thicker again....and thicker, and thicker. So this is how it all ends - trapped in a thick forest of impenetrable two metre high thorns and tropical vines. Maybe they'll send out a search party. I'm not sure how much good that'd do. They could be a metre away from me in all this lot and still have no idea I was there, and then who's going to rescue the rescuers. I tried to sit down to contemplate my fate, but no, the thorns were too thick. Must try to plough on I thought. Ten metres and two hours of jungle bashing later, a miracle. A path. The path from the resort up to the lookout. But my troubles were far from over. One look at my shredded limbs and my beloveds might never let me out on my own ever again. Better try to wash the blood off in the sea, that'll fool them. Who was I trying to kid. All I got were a few eye rolls as if to say "Dad's been off on another one of his little adventures". Where was their sense of excitement......

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1st April 2021

Great read
Great read I must say. You have beautifully portrayed your thoughts and ideas through this article. Great insight on the topic and value addition. Keep posting more articles like this! Top 10 Cities for Budget Travel in Europe
1st April 2021
Monuriki Island (of "Castaway" fame)

Fiji Islands
A beautiful place to explore.

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