You'll find Likuliku Lagoon Resort on Malolo Island in Fiji. Photo / Supplied
You'll find Likuliku Lagoon Resort on Malolo Island in Fiji. Photo / Supplied
Discovery of a thought-to-be extinct green crested iguana sends Malolo Island into sustainability overdrive, says Leah McLennan.
These iguanas are on the same level as the panda bear in terms of extinction," says Steve Anstey, group general manager of Ahura Resorts, handing me a drink from a coconut plucked just minutes earlier. "The black market price is high for rare iguanas such as ours."
Over a breakfast of twice-cooked gruyere cheese souffle, Anstey is discussing the fragile ecosystem that surrounds Ahura's two resorts on Malolo Island - the adults-only Likuliku Lagoon Resort and family friendly Malolo Island Resort.
He's particularly passionate about the critically endangered Fijian crested iguanas.
After breakfast, accompanied by his playful Labrador, Coconut, he shows me two juvenile lizards, called Malolo and Likuliku, that he keeps in a large, tree-filled cage outside his office.
Fiji has three types of iguana: the banded iguana (Brachylophus bulabula), the lau banded (Brachylophus fasciatus) and the green crested iguana (Brachylophus vitiensis).
"We discovered one in 2010," he says. "We sent it to Fiji's Kula Eco Park, which took blood samples that were sent to Taronga Zoo in Sydney for analysis.
"There was great excitement when the results came back, as the green crested iguanas in Fiji are genetically island specific and they thought the ones on Malolo were extinct.
"Unfortunately the iguana we had found died but several months later we found another one at Malolo and since then another four."
The discovery of the lizards prompted experts from Taronga Zoo and San Diego Zoo in California to visit the island and take DNA samples.
"The discovery of the iguanas led to an environmental rethink on the island," Anstey says.
Malolo Island in Fiji is home to the critically endangered Fijian crested iguana. Photo / 123RF
Ahura, a 100 per cent Fijian family-owned business, is implementing an iguana programme, which includes replanting and introducing dry forest species on the resort's lease on the island and eradicating feral cats.
"The intention is to develop a breeding programme so we can eventually start releasing them back into their natural habitat," says Anstey as he shows me three eggs incubating in his office.
A pin-up for a sustainable holiday; Ahura is also an active member of the Mamanuca Environment Society.
The society's projects include turtle conservation, coral transplanting, crown of thorns eradication and water quality monitoring.
It also has a responsibility to educate and has extensive school programmes and initiatives throughout the Mamanuca Islands' schools and resorts.
Anstey explains that the reef in the area surrounding the resorts is a marine reserve, meaning fishing is forbidden.
And in the kitchen, sustainability is also top of mind.
Anstey takes me for a walk around Likuliku's organic gardens, where kitchen staff can pick vegetables, herbs and fruit, including cherry tomatoes, aubergine, zucchini, mango and papaya.
Likuliku has recently welcomed back Shane Watson as its executive chef. Australian-born Watson was the inaugural executive chef when the resort opened in 2007.
He selects the restaurant's produce daily, meeting with fishermen, farmers and producers to choose his free-range eggs, seafood and organic meats.
But sustainable tourism is also about the people and the culture and Ahura has the locals at the top of its priority list.
The land the resorts are built on is owned by the people of Yaro village and Ahura pays royalties to the landowners, as well as a monthly rent.
Up to half of the employees live in the village, which guests can visit during their stay.
There's also Solevu, the second village on the island, where giggling children at the primary school greet visitors with traditional songs.
The school has a fund that hotel guests can contribute to, or they welcome the donation of small gifts, such as pencils, books, rugby balls or tennis balls.
The result of having so many staff at Malolo and Likuliku who are either related or have grown up together creates a joyful atmosphere, full of big, genuine laughs.
This feeling of warmth is one of the key reasons guests keep coming back, Anstey explains.
"We have people here at the moment who are on their 13th stay.
"When they leave they have tears in their eyes, and so do we."
