RE: [Paddlewise] Tonga, Fiji

From: Allan and Joyce Singleton <alsjfs_at_voyager.co.nz>
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 10:20:08 +1300
 Dean Koga  wrote:

>  For our vacation this summer, my life partner and I would like to go to
>  the south Pacific for two weeks.  Right now our first choice is Vava'u in
>  Tonga, because humpback whales are there in our summer.  We want
>  to do the
>  trip on our own, but one guidebook suggests that camping is no longer
>  permitted in Vava'u.  Has anyone on this list been there recently, or
>  know the regulations?
>
>
I think your problem with camping is the Friendly Islands Kayak Company,
www.fikco.com/kayaktonga  who are based in Vava'u, and run trips in Ha'apai
as well. As the only licenced sea kayaking operator they have camping rights
on islands which are otherwise off-limits. Their web site contains
information and links that might be useful to you though.

Last July we went on one of their Ha'apai trips, see
www.voyager.co.nz/~alsjfs/tonga.htm  It would be possible to do a private
trip here by staying at "resorts" on different islands, e.g. fly to Lifuka,
stay at Mele Tonga's for a day or two while exploring Lifuka, Foa and Haano
to the north, shift to Diana's on Uoleva, then on to the 'Esi-'O-Ma'afu
Homestay at Felemea on 'Uiha. From here you could explore uninhabited
islands further south.

These "resorts" are fairly primitive and you could probably cook most of
your own meals if you wanted to. If you were persuasive at Felemea you might
be able to get permission to camp on one of the uninhabited islands.

Sorry, but no first hand information on similar possibilities in Vava'u.


Allan Singleton
Hamilton NZ


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Received on Mon Feb 12 2001 - 17:08:24 PST

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