Sun-kissed and loving it!
Iwill always write about the great outdoors. It’s something I know rather well. I’ve spent nearly every day of my life so far, outdoors. I’m doing things in this life I resonate with and environmental stewardship is on top of the list.
I’ve been a ranger for the last 14 years. It’s a wonderful job where I get to protect one of Fiji’s unique natural heritage. A job where I spend a good amount of time outdoors doing conservation. It’s not easy work but it’s necessary. And it helps when you really love the work.
When we talk about Dune conservation, we are talking about everything that makes the Sigatoka Sand Dunes a unique place. Firstly, we have a large coastal dune system that’s atypical for the South Pacific region. Have you heard of any other large dune systems in our region? Try Google and it comes up with Sigatoka Sand Dunes only. And then, there is the evidence of our earlier Fijian ancestors found in the dunes. You just have to walk the dunes to see ancient pottery shards scattered on its surface. There has been a lot of excavations to verify its historical importance. A good number of these artefacts are on display at the Fiji Museum.
We must never forget too its ecological significance. The Sigatoka Sand Dunes is a macro-habitat for a multitude of flora and fauna. A walk on the tracks will show you that the dunes are more than just hills of sand. They have life in all shapes and sizes. And some are endemic to our shores. Another aspect of the dunes is that we rangers like to talk about is its hugeness. And this we do easily from the ‘Juvonulevu Lookout’. A vantage point at the highest point of the dunes. From there you see the sea below you on one side and in the opposite direction, human habitation. And in between lies the Sigatoka Sand Dunes. A natural barrier between man and the encroaching sea. All of these dunal aspects and others we protect. And to do this, we obviously have to be outdoors.
TIME, WELL SPENT!
A good portion of our work time sees us patrolling the park’s boundaries daily. We have to keep our eyes peeled for any disturbances that may harm the dunes.
And there are many disturbances that do and most, are anthropogenic in nature. Thus, it is important that we rangers are always out and about.
Our presence ensures visitors and those who live close by respect the park. It would be pretentious to say everything works out fine. Far from it. We do have our usual runins with troublemakers. And we do our best to handle them. Difficult ones, we leave to the Police. Since we spent a lot of time outdoors, we know a few things. We know where the best shade spots are.
We have a lot of shortcuts to get to places quickly. We know when the tree flowers and fruits. We’ve seen most of the cryptic animals that a lot of visitors would read about in our Visitor Information Centre.
We know where people trespass into the park too. We are quite good at sitting quietly and being observant. And this helps us know a lot of things. Sun-kissed is a term we Sand Dunes Rangers use casually (and humorously too) to rate our productivity. It’s a physical indication that a ranger has been doing his/her due diligence. In layman’s term, the more than you look, the more time you had spent outdoors. I’ve been accused on some occasions for not being sun-kissed enough but I’ve always countered that with sunscreen. Sun cancer is real!
Despite having to toil in the hot sun daily and having to walk everywhere in the park, we truly enjoy our work. It’s actually a wonderful thing that the dunes are protected. Such places serve as beacons of hope. They remind us of what we could lose, if we continue in our current path.
And it’s a good thing we have sun-kissed rangers (or whatever climate they live in) serving as the door keepers to such wonderful places.
They are there to provide a service, be it for humanity or Mother Nature.