Bula!
Well it had to happen! Our friendly village hosts are getting quite a reputation out there now and, as a result, Namatakula is fully booked up for a couple of weeks in March! (Simon and Judith’s guest house at Namatakula will be completed by mid-March.)
Easter bookings are already brisk and we expect the participating villages to be fully booked for much of April as well.
When we say “fully booked” we mean up to ten visitors at one village at a time. This ensures that the hosts and their clan can keep a high level of personal attention and service.
I will be in Fiji next month finalising the inclusion of the villages of Naroro and Bega Island – bookings available from April. There are several other villages that I am going to visit while there to check out their accommodation, activities and utilities. We are hoping to expand FijiBure.Com to about 20 top villages across the Fijian Islands in the next few years - allowing us to accommodate the equivalent of a fairly large hotel.
The FijiBure.Com project is starting to have a very positive impact on the participating villages with the Ministry of Finance in Fiji being the latest cab off the rank to offer support. I will be meeting with them in Suva in March to discuss setting up Internet telecentres in the participating villages with the costs of running of these kiosks coming out of the money paid by tourists. The kiosks will also allow A grade students at the villages access to thee Internet – a massive leap forward for them!
These kiosks will, hopefully, be available to travellers staying at the villages by Christmas allowing them to send and receive mail through email hosts like Hotmail.
The winner of the competition for three free days at a participating Fijian Village will be drawn in early April - winner to be advised then! See the home page for details.
Tomasi, Simon, Judith, Caneili, Ema, Emoni, and Adi all send there love and best wishes!
Seganaleqa Marau (No worries! Be happy!).
Scott