After checking out all the water sports and island hopping in Fiji, perhaps it is time to discover some of the natural attractions that the country has to offer inland.

Discover the Fiji Highlands on this adventure-packed tour. First, take a longboat ride up the scenic Navua River, which offers views of cascading waterfalls, tropical rainforest, and picturesque island scenery. Then, visit a Fijian village to observe how the locals live. Following that, you’ll float downstream on inner tubes over gentle rapids. A riverside lunch is also included. This tour is called “River Tubing Fiji“, which starts in Navua village.

The weather hadn’t been good to us since the hotel pickup, it was raining quite heavily. But when we started our tour, it was more of dark clouds and gloomy skies.

It was drizzling by the time we arrived at the small village of Sambata. Our experienced guide showe us the daily way of life, how they managed to build more sanitation facilities and to expand the house when someone else married into the family. These were interesting snippets of information that gave us more insight into the villager’s lives.

This friendly kid was saying hi to us. We did not interact too much with the villagers as we did not want to disrupt their daily lives and also not to create an emotional attachment. The woman above weaves mats for a living and when a guest arrives, these mats would be given out as welcome gifts.

After the village tour, we went to one of the waterfalls. Due to the rain, the pathway was slightly slippery. There were some handrails and also the boatmen followed us as we walked around 5 minutes along the path to reach the waterfall.

It was a majestic waterfall. I am not sure why I’m still wearing a poncho even though everything was quite wet. Being adventurous, we took off the poncho and had a dip in the refreshing cold waters in the plunge pool.

Lunch was a pit stop along the river, with a basic shelter. We were served salad, white bread, chicken cooked in stew, coconut gravy fish and some fruits. It was simple yet delicious. Apparently soya sauce and ketchup were used to cook the chicken, which was why it tasted familiar.

We then prepared ourselves for the river tubing. Each person was given a tube which had a smaller float for the butt.

We launched ourselves into the river. The guides had taught us how to navigate using our hands. Due to the low water level in the river, some parts of the river were very still. However, there were also parts of the river covered in sharp rocks, so our guides told us to avoid them. Each of us formed a single file as we floated down the river. In the calm areas, we could float in groups. It was really relaxing, except for the fact that I did not like being under the rain and my pictures turned out quite foggy.

The activity is not a fast as whitewater rafting, so this tour is suitable for kids of all ages. There was an infant who was crying loudly, so the father had to carry in his lap and they opted out of this activity. There was a safety boat following us along the way, to take photographs and also for the passengers who did not want to do the river tubing.

Towards the end of the course, we all clambered onboard the boat and 15 minutes later, we were back at the landing point where we first started. We changed into our dry clothes and had some hot tea and biscuits, before the long ride back to our hotel in the shuttle van.

Disclaimer: I had booked the wrong tour and since they had prepared the logistics, we could not ask for a refund. We already spent a few days doing water sports and island hopping, so this river tubing was not as exciting.

There is another tour available, also in the same area. Apparently it is family business, both tours offer a similar itinerary but the focus is different.

The other tour is called “Jewel of Fiji“. Begin your day with a motorised long boat ride up the Navua River to the Fijian Village for a Welcome Kava Ceremony, village sightseeing, lunch and entertainment. Continue up the Navua River to the magic waterfalls for your waterfall Swim. The tour then ends with a leisurely ride on the unsinkable “HMS” BILIBILI – Bamboo Raft. The focus of this tour is that there are more cultural elements, even though our guide said that it is staged for tourists. Perhaps it was said in jest due to family rivalry?