Islands off Savusavu
I visited 3 islands off Savusavu area over 5 days. The first was an inhabited island with a resort. There is a large permanent roost here of Pacific flying foxes which is infrequently visited by guests on the island. There is however some land clearing occuring with the plans to expand the resort. While I was there I was able to share information about bats in Fiji, their importance in the environment and especially to reinforce the importance of this site given what I had been experiencing across Vanua Levu with a decrease in roost numbers/change in location. Hopefully with more knowledge about bats they are willing to take this into consideration with future developments.
The second island I was able to loan a kayak to access. Traditionally named Lotu Island, is now referred to as Bat Island by locals and tourists. Unfortunately there were NO bats on BAT island! This appears to be seasonal as with the other sites in Vanua Levu - however it is disappointing as the locals (including hotel staff whom live and work opposite to it) had not noticed the change. This is a limestone island with lots of outcropping caves. There was mention of small bats once living here but I couldn’t get any more details nor access them to check.
The last site was a picnic island off another resort near Savusavu. I was generously taken over in a boat with one of the marine scientists who had visited the island often and knew the area. Again, the bats were not there. One of the staff back shore then shared he had not seen them for 2 months!! It doesn’t coincide with the dry period but the staff couldn’t really remember if this was an annual thing for this camp of Pacific flying foxes or not.
The main site in Savusavu was destroyed a couple of years ago when a large islands of mangroves and forest were demolished for a new marina. This is still under development but is the first thing people tell you about in Savusavu as soon as you mention the word bats.
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