Bouma

Bouma National Heritage Park was established in 1990 on the island of Taveuni, the third largest in Fiji, and protects some 150 km², around a third of the island's surface.

Its origin is singular: the land belongs to the clans of the four villages of Bouma under the Fijian system of customary ownership, and it was its owners who decided to give up the income from a logging concession and devote the forest to conservation and nature tourism, with support from the New Zealand government. The park is owned and managed by the communities, who receive the income from entry fees and services directly.

It protects tropical rainforest in very good condition on volcanic relief, with the Tavoro falls in three stepped drops as its main attraction, as well as the Lavena coastal walk. Taveuni is known as Fiji's garden island and holds a flora with notable endemics, among them the tagimaucia, the country's emblematic flower, which grows only on its heights. The wildlife includes birds endemic to the island, fruit bats and the Fiji crested iguana, critically endangered.