Page 22 - Islands Business March 2023

Tourism Tourism

THE POWER OF RELATIONSHIPS

SIGATOKA RIVER SAFARI’S JAY WHYTE

By Sera Tikotikovatu-Sefeti Whyte continues.
The bond between them was further solidified when
When Jay Whyte was 13, he befriended a security guard Matasau invited Whyte and his family to visit his village. “We
at the Shangri-La Fijian Resort in Sigatoka, who introduced organised a minivan and went two hours up into the Sigatoka
the Australian visitor and his family to an authentic Fijian valley, and once we got there, they welcomed us like we were
experience up in the green terrain of Navosa. long lost family.
It was an experience that will forever be etched in his mind “I just fell in love with Fiji, the people, the culture, and we
and heart. went horseback riding to a waterfall, went swimming in the
More than 30 years later, that curious, bright-eyed boy river, and I was captivated, hooked; it was like living the real
is the owner of the famous Sigatoka River Safari, and his deal,” Whyte says.
business partner is the same security guard, Pita Matasau. His Navosa experience even dulled the lustre of his
Whyte recalls of their first meeting, “He was doing one of visit to Disneyland two years earlier. “It was a man-made
his rounds and he was wearing a little pin on his shirt that experience,” Whyte says of that trip to the U.S. “And then
made it stand out; it said Bendigo, which is where my mom I did this natural adventure up into the hills in Fiji, and it
was from in Australia. So we started talking, and I followed literally changed my life.”
him around the resort for the next few hours. While the Whytes returned to Australia after their holiday,
“He told me all these wonderful stories about Fiji, about his Jay and Pita remained pen-pals. Meanwhile Jay’s family took
village, and he is a great storyteller, so I was just captivated,” a holiday to New Zealand and took a boat cruise, where the

22 Islands Business, March 2023