30-05-2025
Loloma Hour: Where nature and happiness meet
In Fiji, tourists are helping conserve the archipelago's natural and cultural environment – one hour at a time.
"Any Fijian will tell you loloma [means] love. It also means mercy, being kind, having compassion and charity, being generous," explains marine biologist Kolora Lewadradra. "Loloma also means the deep care that one has for another, for the land, the environment, the ocean – it's a word that expresses profound affection or goodness."
Loloma Hour, a new initiative co-ordinated by Tourism Fiji, aims to capture that sense of integration with nature and love for the natural world. It encourages travellers to spend just 60 minutes of their holiday giving back to Fiji and contribute to projects helping the landscapes, seascapes, ecosystems and culture that make the archipelago so magical.
Activities span the gamut, from helping conserve indigenous species, rehabilitate the reef and protect the coastline to preserving local culture by learning crafts such as basket weaving or pottery. But some of the most popular options are those that get travellers into Fiji's crystal-clear waters.
Creating evangelists through protecting the reef
Marine biologist Rob McFarlane leads ocean programmes at four resorts in Fiji, including Barefoot Manta Island in the Yasawa archipelago, where he heads up the resort's Marine Conservation Centre. As well as studying the reef manta rays that feed in a nearby channel during the dry season, McFarlane's team has counted and observed more than 330 reef fish species and 110 hard coral species within the local protected marine area, which spans just 26 hectares (64 acres).
