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Many countries greet visitors with genuine enthusiasm and travel-brochure smiles but are any more friendly than Fiji? Maybe it’s the sense of family, the village community style of welcome and inclusion, that sets the island nation apart.
I wish this snap taken at the newly opened Kokomo Private Island Fiji were a video. Because then you could hear the high, clear voices, see the rhythmic waving of arms and the collapsing into giggles as the song ends. During my four-day stay, the staff remember me by name, as they do all guests. Bula, of course, is the multipurpose greeting, but I try hard with their names too. I want to be a model citizen of this warm universe where hugs are commonplace and eye-contact important.
One Kokomo team member tells me it is considered very rude not to look everyone in the eye, smile and say “Bula!”, and the louder and cheerier the better. So off I go in a chorus of Bula-ing and it feels good and bright and easy. I laugh at every encounter with Henry and Mana and Shirley and Manasa; I hug chef Caroline and then find she has sciatica in her neck and is about to head to the main island of Viti Levu for physiotherapy. Instead of wincing, she hugs me back and her staff laugh along as we hold on to each other, hooting like girl-crush teenagers.
I don’t try hugging the big, broad-shouldered rugby-looking chaps who work in the gardens and grounds, because that would be foolish. Even a handshake could wreck your wrist. But there they are as I leave, singing the Isa Lei farewell with the voices of angels. The song rises like a hymn in a chapel-like glade of palms and hibiscus. The English translation does the song no justice but a few lines really resonate … “O’er the ocean your island home is calling … Forget not when you are far away …”
Kokomo is in the Kadavu island group within the Great Astrolabe Reef, south of Viti Levu. Snorkelling and diving are big drawcards and the marine life incredible, but the weather is wild and cool and woolly during my brief stay. But that makes for a ready-made reason to return.
Plus the prospect of Caroline and Manasa’s tempura lobster, with a side of sunbeam smiles.
Sоurсе: theaustralian.com.au