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TRAIL TO MEDALI BEACH: Medali Beach Hike
Up for a short hike? The trail to Medali ( pron. Mendali) Beach is a half hour stroll through amazing tropical
vegetation to a private beach where your only company is likely to be cockatoos and frigate birds. If you happen to be on the trail after dark, the bush is alight with flashes from fireflies and phosphorencent glows from fungi.Varia River Croc Hunt
Ever wanted to see a real, live saltwater crocodile up close and personal? Examine its dentition, perhaps?
Your best chance involves rising way before dawn, ( yes, hot coffee and some sustenance will be arranged), and boating over to the other side of Ngatokae to the Varia River; as the boat glides slowly up the river
through mangroves and banyans covered with every imaginable fern and wild orchid, your guides and you will visually sweep from side to side seeking that once in a lifetime vision of an ancient creature largely
unchanged through the millenia. We did this on a moonlit night; although all we saw were some suspiciously yellow eyes, the trip up the river through the silent and eerie world was a visual treat unlike
any I have experienced. We also did it early in the morning, but we weren't quite early enough - lazy! Biche Village Cultural Tour
 
Tucked way around the corner from Peava is a small village called Biche. A cultural tour of Biche is a must to get a picture of what life was like before missionaries arrived. Inhabitants of Biche ( and Peava, for that
matter) were headhunters and cannibals up until 1915. When I first did the tour, James was our cheerful guide through the birthing cave, skull shrines, the "fattening" area where young captive boys were
prepared for the chief's next feast ("arm of boy" was the prized cut,etc. I kept asking James if he was sure he was Christian and had I really been invited for lunch! The tour ends with the amazing River Eels (
exactly like our congers, except that they are black with bright blue eyes) and a hike to a gorgeous waterfall, where you're encouraged to leap in and cool off and play,
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