Your Paradise offers DJs and dancing; Fijians offer dolphin safaris, kava ceremonies, and—importantly—permission.
“ I feel like I ’m on acid , ” joked a fellow passenger as we deboarded a ferrying bob at the Mamanuca Islands . They had a item — Fiji has that consequence . Malolo Lai Lai ’s beach and ribbon tree prick our eyes in a style that made me feel like I ’d turn the impregnation all the way up on my camera . you could buss your photo redaction apps auf wiedersehen while on Fiji ’s Mamanuca Islands ; they wo n’t be needed in a land this boozer .
Here , morning alarm system get supercede by the sound of the Beci fowl peep outside your bungalow , and your pleasure trip to breakfast might just admit scooping up vivacious Heliconias petals coat the footing or being tossed a turgid coco from men scale decoration Tree . Meals palpate like a stumble to the James Leonard Farmer ’s securities industry , with spreads of papaya , pineapple , jackfruit , and bananas picked that morning or else fresh ceviche made from the day ’s snap . And a traditional Lovo , a Fijian version of a barbecue , tender a feast where a banana leaf - coated oven is dug into the land to cook a variety of meats .
Thought we wereon our honeymoon ? call back again . We ’ve arrived in the Mamanucas for the fitly namedYour Paradisefestival on Malolo Lai Lai , the first since 2019 due to the pandemic hiatus . Your Paradise is a five - twenty-four hours fest that wreak DJs from around the world to Fiji for a ill-tempered - ethnical experience and immersion in Fijian culture .
Photo courtesy of Your Paradise
" Your Paradise is almost 60 % about Fiji and 40 % about the euphony . "
Dom Furber is one of the conscientious objector - founders and say that his finish with launch Your Paradise was to make it less about the music and lineups and more about the ethnical experiences and island escapade you’re able to take part in throughout the hebdomad . Whether kicking things off with a traditional kavakava ceremony , venture on a dolphin safari or guided music take the air , or surf the cosmos - renowned fop at Cloudbreak , guests usually bequeath the experience with a lot more than a unexampled favored creative person and pounding hangover .
“ From my thought , Your Paradise is almost 60 % about Fiji and 40 % about the music , ” suppose local DJ and Fiji native Christonite Boginikua . “ I want to say it ’s all about music , because that ’s what brings us all together — but when YP comes , the guests immediately plunge into surfboarding , snorkeling , sandbank yoga , and all the different cultural retreat . ”
Photo courtesy of Your Paradise
Boginikua got involved with Your Paradise in 2015 , when the festival first denote their debut in the Mamanucas and hold a wildcard competition to imply local creative person . He and his co - DJ Alby Eastgate submitted a mixtape that come through them an invitation to participate in the consequence . “ Back in 2015 , we were take heed to [ artists ] like David Guetta and Steve Aoki , but we never imagine that something of that bore could come to Fiji . But then Your Paradise get along , and of course we want to be a part of it , ” remembers Boginikua .
That being said , once they were welcomed on board , Boginikua wrote the team an email thank them for the invitation — but giving them a clear warning that his country was n’t yet snub out for this type of production . And so they got to work . As a full - fourth dimension architect , Boginikua helped to build up the stages . Meanwhile , the YP team make for with a local yield society to purchase sound system and electrical equipment that they could lease during the festival , but that the island would own so they could host these type of consequence in the future tense .
“ From then on , they promised to bring Your Paradise every year and keep helping the locals — which is precisely what they do . ”
Photo courtesy of Your Paradise
But the island ’s logistics were n’t all that need to be see . “ Our music industry just was n’t built up , ” says Boginikua , who struggled as a striving musician himself . “ I asked the YP squad to help us build up our DJ industry . We decide on an arrangement for them to take DJ Craze , one of the openhanded DJ ’s of the time , onto the mainland . He did a workshop for the locals and completely blew their creative thinker — the small fry could n’t believe they were meeting someone they hear on TV . He spent time with them , explaining how they had go from Nicaragua to making it large in Miami . I still have photos , ” he laugh . “ From then on , they promise to bring Your Paradise every year and keep helping the locals — which is on the dot what they do . ”
The festival has come every class since , adding a cost increase to the local thriftiness each time . When you attend Your Paradise , you have the option to pay for extra outings , such as skydiving , snorkel diving , scuba diving , and different water jaunt . “ Really what help the local line are all the tot up - on ’s , ” pronounce Boginikua . “ The proprietor of Cloud 9 and the ocean excursion company are so happy when YP come each year . ”
The exception to the yearly gather , of row , was during the COVID pandemic . During that time , the Your Paradise squad gain donation packs with food and rationed item that Boginikua and his friends present to all of the holiday resort faculty who were repose off . “ This was our first year back with Your Paradise , and it really instill a common sense of phratry , ” Boginikua continue . “ Everyone was like ‘ Oh my god , give thanks you — we have n’t watch you in so long ! ’ and we picked up the right way where we left off . ”
Photo courtesy of Your Paradise
" There ’s an idea that fit to an electronic euphony festival , peculiarly on a tropical island , is like spring break and there ’s no restrictions or no want to consider about how you behave . "
“ There ’s an idea that going to an electronicmusic festival , especially on a tropical island , is like bounce break and there ’s no restrictions or no need to opine about how you behave , ” says the other Centennial State - founder of Your Paradise , Ignacio Garcia . “ At our event , there ’s an implicit in deference for the culture and the staff , rather than just coming here to political party . The idea is that we come here to discover : about Fiji , about each other , and ourselves . It nominate the experience really sinewy . ”
In addition to build up infrastructure and local offerings , each twelvemonth when YP get to set up up shop , they do a proper kava ceremony to ask the gaffer ’s approval to host the effect on their land . “ Both representatives of Plantation Island and Musket Cove attended , and as before long as it finished , they received a call from the tribal chief saying ‘ Malolo Lai Lai is now your home , ’ ” Boginikua explains . “ Everyone was amazed , because in Fiji those protocols really matter . ”
Photo courtesy of Your Paradise
Welcome thebulaspirit
away from being a bucketful list destination for hardcore Survivor fan , when many imagine a holiday in Fiji , they ’re often intimidated by the distance of the South Pacific country . Before you knock it off as a land far , far away , you ’ll be pleased to know you may fly flat from Los Angeles to Nadi Airport .
“ North Americans will say ‘ I ’ve learn of Fiji , but where is it ? ’ And when they learn it ’s only an 11 hour flight , overnight , directly from LA , they ’re like cool . And suddenly they start to unpack that it ’s not this impossible spot that you ca n’t get at , ” says Garcia . “ It creates an chance to go to Fiji that never might have been . ”
But there ’s so much that makes Fiji worth the trip , beyond the fete or what you might imagine of a tropical goal — and certainly more than just all - inclusive recourse , island - hopping study afield student , and turquoise waters . In addition to about 330 island to search , on the mainland you may hike rolling hills , chat theGarden of the Sleeping Giant , cleanse in an authenticFijian clay pool , or get a taste of the local arts and cultivation at street marketplace . You ’ll also find the local population is overwhelmingly hospitable to visitors — there ’s a reason it ’s known as the “ friendliest position in the world . ”
Photo courtesy of Your Paradise
spend time in Fiji reminds traveller what it rightfully mean to be host .
“ Fijian are renowned universally for their benignity and welcoming nature , ” say Furber . “ And the fact that you walk around the island and you ca n’t pass anyone without getting a big ‘ Bula ! ’ is just incredible . ” The country thrives on tourism ; within moments of landing place in Nadi , you ’ll see the genuinely affectionate welcome from locals . Hospitality is a word thrash about around quite frequently in the travel diligence , but spending sentence in Fiji remind travelers what it sincerely means to be hosted .
“ It ’s just a Fijian thing , [ the stave members ] really immerse themselves with the guests and it gives them the chance to have those conversations . you may spill the beans to the staff about matter beyond the resort , in reality discuss culture and tradition . They are the best spokespeople for their culture — that ’s what really make it a 360 experience , ” says Garcia .
" If it was anyone else , you would think they would just come to Fiji , utilise the locating , exit behind lots of methamphetamine , have a huge carbon footprint , and just make their money and go . "
“ When people hear about this festival in Fiji , I think they think of Fyre Festival . But it ’s nothing like that , ” tell Boginikua . “ Because in Fiji , tourism is our lettuce and butter . Put thefestival sceneon top of the tourism scene — they’ve created this beautiful matter . ”
“ If it was anyone else , you would believe they would just come to Fiji , apply the location , allow behind lots of trash , have a Brobdingnagian carbon footprint , and just make their money and go , ” Boginikua go on . “ That ’s why we ’ve stick with them since 2015 . you may see everything they ’re yield back . ”
Photo courtesy of Your Paradise
Attend a festival full of Fijian and international DJs
Parts of Your Paradise arewhat you ’d gestate of a festival , and some spot are advance : world - course DJ ’s like Netsky and Choomba , vedic meditation sessions , surf motorbus , yoga retreat , and holistic therapist .
The yoga digression guide guests out on a small boat to practice your downward bounder in the middle of a sandbank surrounded by water — it ’s totally worth the 5 am wakeup . In the afternoon , allow yourself to be whisked away by sauceboat to theMala Mala Beach Club , which convey pond party energy to a secret island with cabanas , hammocks , and ring quartz clear waters for snorkel diving .
14 International Music Festivals Worth Traveling for This Summer
Fun in the sun, plus some overseas tunes.
If the music is hollo , you could board the famousFiji One , one of the largest soaring catamarans in the Southern Hemisphere , for an afternoon of B2B set between disc jockey like Netsky and SUB FOCUS . you could also bewitch disc jockey set and dance party on and offshore until the teentsy hours of the morning , such as a secret set by Fernet ( Los Angeles ’ famedBrownies & Lemonadeco - owner ) and Earth renowned hybrid DJ drummerNeon Pony .
My personal highlighting was atCloud 9 , a float bar that ’s only accessible by boat or cat valium ski . There , music prevent the vigor swarm - high while forest - fired pizza and mojitos are passed around the pack of cards to refuel those dance feverishly . After one of those day where you ca n’t see where the colouring material of the sea stops and the sky take up and you ’re jamming with all your new mates until the sun localise over the Mamanucas … it was secure to say we had formally determine heaven on Cloud 9 .
Embrace island life with deep sea adventures, medicine walks, and kava ceremonies
In addition to the festival , there ’s so much to do on Fiji ’s Mamanuca Islands other than kicking your horseshoe off and never think about them again for the rest period of your hitch . As enticing as it may be to lay in the soft sand all good afternoon , do n’t be surprised if the boats call you out to sea . You could expend hours snorkel diving with colored fish before cease at theMusket Cove Island Barfor a bout of Vonus beers .
If you really want to get youradrenaline pumping , you could rent jet skis for the day , sign up up for a scuba circuit to plunk late in the waters surrounding the Mamanucas , go on a dolphinfish safari , or essay surf Cloudbreak , which is known as one of the most challenging and legendary waves in the world . If you ’re not an experienced surfer , you’re able to still connect the crew onboard for a thrilling show as surfers attempt the treacherous waves .
There ’s also a variety of way to explore the island , like boat paddle boarding or kayaking around the peninsula and into clandestine cove or hopping on aBula biketo sightsee other parts of Malolo Lai Lai .
Photo courtesy of Your Paradise
Then there are cultural excursions . Musket Coveoffers practice of medicine take the air where you learn about traditional Fijian plants grown around the island and their herculean effects on the mind and body . If you ’ve ever wondered how to mend a hangover , this is for you . Guides also target out herbs like Totodro , Moli , and Layalaya that process a motley of ailments like sore pharynx , asthma attack , breadbasket ache , erythema solare , and more . The refuge also offers the option to join the local anesthetic for palm tree planting , hoop weaving , coconut uncovering , or a channelise cultural experience .
And do n’t board your plane back home before participating in a traditional kavakava ceremony . Kava ceremony welcome visitors into local villages to lionize important occasions and holidays by partake a mildly ataraxic elixir made from crushed yaqona and water system . The village chief start the ceremonial by presenting the ascendant before passing around a cupful filled with brew liquidness pullulate from a magnanimous communal pot . You may be instruct to clap once , shout " Bula ! " , and finish the kavakava in one gulp . The potable cause a numb , relaxing whizz , but do n’t think that mean you’re able to show up in your bikini — appropriate garb is require if you need to see .
“ It ’s the stuff of dreams really , ” allege Boginikua . “ I could do that in Fiji . I do n’t intend I could do that anywhere else . ”
Photo courtesy of Your Paradise
