The custom of turtle calling of Namuana on Kadavu is based on an ancient legend which is still passed down from father to son. “Many, many years ago in the beautiful village of Namuana, there lived a very lovely princess called Tinaicaboga who was the wife of the chief of Namuana village.

Though remote, Kadavu is well known by divers for its rich diversity of undersea life, particularly in the Astrolabe Reef. Likewise there is a great deal of terrestrial flora and fauna of interest, particularly the birds. The colorful Kadavu Parrot, which is now a protected species, can be easily observed.

fourteen provinces
Kadavu Province is one of fourteen provinces of Fiji, and forms part of the Eastern Division, which also includes the provinces of Lau, Lomaiviti and Rotuma. Kadavu also belongs to the Burebasaga Confederacy, a hierarchy of chiefs from southern and western Fiji with Roko Tui Dreketi of Rewa as the paramount chief.

Fiji’s fourth largest island, Kadavu Island is situated 100km south of the main island of Viti Levu, is one of the few remaining undeveloped islands in Fiji today. The general population maintains strong cultural values and leads fairly subsistence lifestyles.

Kadavu (pronounced [kanˈdaβu]), with an area of 411 square kilometres (159 sq mi), is the fourth largest island in Fiji, and the largest island in the Kadavu Group, a volcanic archipelago consisting of Kadavu, Ono, Galoa and a number of smaller islands in the Great Astrolabe Reef.

300 islands
The archipelago consists of some 300 islands and 540 islets scattered over about 1,000,000 square miles (3,000,000 square km). Of the 300 islands, about 100 are inhabited. The capital, Suva, is on the southeast coast of the largest island, Viti Levu (“Great Fiji”).

Ba Province. Ba province occupies the north-west segment of the main island ‘Viti Levu’ and is the largest province in the Fiji group covering over 2,630 square kilometers – over 3-times the size of Kiribati.

In 1874, control of the Fiji Islands was ceded to the United Kingdom. In 1877, the colonial authorities decided to move the capital to Suva from Levuka, Ovalau, Lomaiviti, because Levuka’s location between a steep mountain and the sea made any expansion of the town impractical.

Fiji is a group of volcanic islands in the South Pacific, lying about 4,450 kilometres (2,765 mi) southwest of Honolulu and 1,770 km (1,100 mi) north of New Zealand. It has the 26th largest Exclusive Economic Zone of 1,282,978 km2 (495,361 sq mi).

Taveuni
While Fiji may have been a more actively volcanic region in the distant past, today its volcanoes are largely quiet. Taveuni is the biggest and most well-known, and as Fiji’s third largest island, it’s also one of the most popular to visit.

The women of Namuana village still preserve the strange ritual of calling turtles from the sea. All the maidens of the village assemble on the rocks above the water and begin to sing a melodious chant. Slowly, one by one, giant turtles rise to lie on the surface in order to listen to the strange chanting.

Lenora Qereqeretabua, Lynda Tabuya, Mere Nailatikau, Sera Tikotikoivatu, and now Marie Falls whose mother is from Kadavu. The Kadavu archipelago sits on the earthquake belt and the cyclone path of Fiji. Kadavu has weathered many earthquakes and cyclones in the past.

The link between the island’s western end and its center is Namalata Isthmus, known to Fijians as Na Yarabale (literally, ‘the place where the canoes are dragged across’). In the same area is the village of Namuana, home of the people who can call turtles from the sea.

Its main administrative centre is Vunisea, which has an airport, a high school, a hospital, and a government station, on the Namalata Isthmus where the island is almost cut in two. Suva, Fiji’s capital, lies 88 kilometres (55 miles) to the north of Kadavu.

Kadavu is characterized by its rugged and mountainous terrain. The tallest mountain is Nabukelevu, also known as Mount Washington, which stands at 805 metres (2,641 feet) high, on the western end of the island.