Wailotua Snake God Cave

Post-Australia, where I had to venture on my own pretty much everywhere, I was in the mindset to continue taking advantage of more of the cultural things that only Fiji has to offer. After the looong bus ride last weekend back from the airport, I was not excited to go far. Fortunately, my handy dandy Lonely Planet guide book (aka my life...) has been an awesome resource.

I found a place that had been recommended that sounded really cool...it was a cave right behind the Wailotua village just northwest of Korovou (about an hour drive north of Suva). I was ready to just up and jump on the bus...it wasn't until I asked the international office that I didn't quite realize what I was jumping into. Because it's an actual village, it is customary to visit the chief, present a gift of yaqona (kava root) during a formal "sevusevu" (welcoming ceremony), and explain your reason for visiting. That was quite intimidating to hear! I had no clue what to say or how to offer yaqona, I didn't even know where to buy yaqona!

Path to Wailotua

Lo and behold, I got Andrew to join and adventure with me for the day. When Ruci (pronounced Ruthie), the lady at the international office, found out it was just the two of us, she said we could probably get away without doing a formal sevusevu and just politely ask the chief for his permission to enter. It was a little comforting to hear, but I was still pretty nervous for what was about to unfold when we got off the bus.

Sulu'ed up, ready to meet the chief

Chief's house

The whole Wailotua village is centered about the cave, so any visitors are assumed to be journeying to it. Right away, a little boy and his father asked us as we got off the bus if we wanted to see the caves. We were warned to make sure we went to the chief first so we just politely asked for the chief's house. On the walk there, we met a young man named Simon who told us that the chief was actually not home because he was at a funeral! So we didn't even have to ask permission, and Simon right away offered to take us into the cave. After lighting up a kerosene lantern we followed Simon and his two friends, Laps and Fi, to the mouth of the cave.

Pathway to the cave

Another picture of the cave entrance

Simon, Fi, and Laps-great tour guides!

It was sooo cool!!!! Best natural attraction in Fiji so far!! I've visited the Lurray Caverns back home, but unfortunately there are ropes and paths and you can't touch things and in this cave we just felt so free. Andrew and I were trudging through, joking about being in a movie like Indiana Jones or National Treasure. We actually walked through barefoot...slipping over mud, wading through knee deep water, all with this one little light from our guide! Any other situation I would've been scared but I was just on an adrenaline rush the whole time.

Andrew admiring

The formal name of the cave is the Wailotua Snake God Cave. This picture shows the 6 snake heads that the village have adorned and worshipped. (You can see three on the left column). Water is constantly dripping from it and the locals brush their hand under the dripping water each time they pass through. 

Snake God

Exploring in the cave

Of course there were stories about the people who committed crimes back in the day. They were beaten with war clubs inside the caves and left, as well as stories of people who had escaped into the cave.

Writings from the locals

Watch your head!

 The water dripping from the top of the cave is constant, so much that coral had been growing on parts of the ceiling of the cave:

Coral on the ceiling

We also saw a huge open space towards the back of the cave where all the Fijian chiefs gathered back in the day to discuss political issues of Fiji. The locals joked about having kava sessions there today, but the whole ceiling over the open space was just covered with bats! But because the cave is pretty much the backyard of the village, this is the place where even the kids roam around playing hide and seek on a daily basis.

Made it out alive :)

It was so awesome, just an incredible experience being in something so valuable to this village. Tourists come from everywhere to see the cave, but at the time we were the only ones visiting. We gave a donation before we left, but it was a gift that they weren't expecting, they were happy just to show us visitors a little part of their life. The cave is what provides them clean water on a daily basis and they're grateful for the natural resources they have surrounding the village. What a great community of people that we can learn so much from! 

Thank you, Wailotua people!