Coral Coast History

If you travel towards Nadi along the Queen’s Road, down the hill past the Warwick and look to the left you will glimpse the birthplace of Fiji tourism, Korolevu on the Coral Coast.


A brilliant stretch of white beach dotted by copious lush vegetation, Korolevu on the Coral Coast is primarily where it all started, where Fiji’s reputation as a tourism mecca was founded and nurtured.


If there was ever a place along the Coral Coast with so much energy, history and character it would have to be Korolevu. This was a happening place to be and it still is, what with the pack-packer retreats, hotels and resorts that line its beautiful shoreline.


However these flashy establishments are mere Johnny Come Latelys.


The Korolevu Beach Hotel, built in the 1950s, was a landmark beachfront development that once lured droves of visitors, mostly colonial expatriates from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

 

The resort, established by pioneer hotelier, the Late Bill Clarke, once stood on 76 acres of prime real estate that included the Paradise Point Hotel that was established a decade later.


The place is steeped in Fiji’s tourism history.

 

The Korolevu Beach Resort and Paradise Point Hotel were Fiji’s earliest luxury resorts helped by the attractiveness of Korolevu’s all-tide pristine beach and surrounding lush vegetation.


A massive hurricane and a land dispute combined to put the two historical resort establishments out of business in 1983.

 

The Korolevu area is still a superb and ideal halfway beach haven centered between Suva and Nadi. On a clear day you can see Vatulele Island from the beach.

 

The land on which the initial resorts were built comprises nine freehold titles totaling 64 acres, three contiguous native leases comprising 11 acres, and a crown lease to the deep water access. Derelict for over two decades, Fiji’s first hotel development has now been put back on the market.


The Korolevu beach area had a wide variety of mature shady trees adding to the lush greenery of the environment. People once flocked to the resort because of its status and a draw-card was the renowned Korolevu Beach Serenaders with songstress Teresa Pecell's voice filling the night air with her melodious voice. The place had a romantic feel about it. Love have been found and lost along these sandy shores.

 

It is rumored that it was at Korolevu that the term "bure" is believed to have been first used to describe individual bungalow-styled accommodation units. Clark also included nightly feats, entertainment and introduced cultural shows to educate guests about the local lifestyle.


Korolevu set the standard not just for tourism in Fiji but for similar areas around the globe. Built in 1948, the small, self-contained units at Korolevu, which incorporated indigenous architecture was believed to be the first of their type in the world.

 

The original hotel developer, Bill Clarke, has admitted that he used this design out of economic necessity. Evidence perhaps, that great things are often come from simple ideas. 

 

 

Korolevu Beach Hotel 1950's brochure cover

 

 

Saturday night dining on the beach at Korolevu in the fifties

 
 
 
 
 

 

Prawns are definately off the menu in Vatulele if you aren't staying at a resort

  Legend 

 

The Red Prawns Of Vatulele

Long ago on the island of Vatulele there lived a very beautiful chief's daughter called "Yalewa-ni-Cagi-Bula" or Maiden-of-the-Fair-Wind. So beautiful was she that every eligible chief who visited Vatulele sought to take her as his bride. Yalewa-ni-Cagi-Bula however, was hard to please and on every occasion she scornfully refused to accept their approaches.


Not far away on the mainland of Viti Levu lived a very handsome and dashing chief's son who was heir to the throne of mainland tribes. He had heard of the beautiful daughter of the chief of Vatulele and decided that she was worthy to be his wife. Finally, after much preparation, our bold young chief set off, laden with gifts, to seek the favors of Yalewa-ni-Cagi-Bula. He was well received by the chiefs of Vatulele, and confidently, he produced the special gift which he had personally carried from his mainland.


This gift consisted of the greatest delicacy known to Fiji Islands, a bundle of giant prawns from the coastal streams of Viti Levu, cooked to a tasty turn in coconut milk. Such a delicacy could be expected to melt the heart of any Fijian maiden - but not so on this occasion.


Her face clouded in anger and with flashing eyes she commanded ladies in waiting to seize him and take him to the highest cliff on the island above the "Caves of the Eagles" (known in Fiji as Ganilau) and cast him out into the sea. As he tumbled down the cliff to the sea his gift of bright red prawns fell from his hands into a rocky pool at the base of the cliff, and the leaves in which they were wrapped fell among the rocks around the pool. Our bold young chief survived the fall and returned sadly home to end his days pining for his lost love. Everyday he would go down to the sea and look towards the south where on a clear day, he could just make out on the horizon a dark line which was Vatulele.


Legends tells us that on one occasion he even began to build a bridge of stone to span the sea between Vatulele and Viti Levu and the remains of this bridge can still be seen jutting out to sea near the village of Votualailai.


The end of the story is as interesting as the beginning for where the red prawns fell into the rocky pool they came to life and to this day the pools under the cliffs on Vatulele are filled with bright scarlet prawns and in the crevices of the rocks grow the leaves in which they were wrapped. To the Fijians of Vatulele these bright scarlet prawns known as "URA-BUTA" or "cooked Prawns" are sacred and may not be harmed in any way. They firmly believe that any who dare defy the TABU will surely be shipwrecked.

 

 

 
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