Taveuni
| Taveuni | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
| Archipelago | Fiji Islands | |
| Geographical location | 16 ° 50 ′ S , 179 ° 57 ′ W | |
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| length | 42 km | |
| width | 15 km | |
| surface | 442 km² | |
| Highest elevation | Uluiqalau 1241 m |
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| Residents | 12,000 27 inhabitants / km² |
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| main place | Matei | |
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Taveuni is the third largest island in the Fiji Islands at 442 square kilometers . It lies exactly on the 180th degree of longitude that divides the island with it.
geography
The island is 42 km long and 15 km wide. Just 15 km away, across the Somosomo Strait, is Fiji's second largest island, Vanua Levu . Taveuni is also known by the name of the Garden Island , as 60% is covered with tropical rainforest . The backbone of the island is a 16 km long volcanic ridge, a shield volcano , which last erupted around 1550. At the highest point, the Uluiqalau with 1241 m, there are rain amounts of up to 10,000 mm per year. This makes Taveuni one of the rainiest regions on earth. The most beautiful waterfalls in Fiji, the Bouna Falls, are located on Taveuni.
About 12,000 people live on Taveuni, mostly on the west coast. There are no cities of any size to speak of.
history
On February 5, 1643, Abel Tasman was the first European to sight the island.
media
Taveuni made history for the last time in 1991 when the film Return to the Blue Lagoon was shot here. The island is also mentioned in Jostein Gaarder's novel Maya or the miracle of life , which is largely set in real places by Taveunis. Furthermore, according to the narrator's well-founded assumption, the island is the main location of Umberto Eco's novel The Island of the previous day .
Wildlife
On Taveuni you can find the orange fruit pigeon , which is only found on the islands of the Fiji archipelago.
tourism
Taveuni is visited by cruise ships from time to time .
Worth seeing
- Date marker
- Rainbow Reef
- Waitavala water slide
- Lavena Coastal Walk
- Vuna blow holes
Web links
- Taveuni in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)
