People from South East Asia were the first inhabitants to come to Fiji and that was much before the European explorers, who came to Fiji in the 17th century. Evidence of inhabitants settling in Fiji has been found in potteries that have been excavated and it is estimated that Fiji had settlements from way back 1,000 B.C. Fiji was mainly inhabited by the Indians from India and it was perceived that it had a government dominated by the Indo-Fijian (Indian) community. This was interrupted by a military coup in 1987 and in the same year another similar coup replaced the British Monarchy and the Governor General by a non-executive President. The country changed its name from Dominion of Fiji to Republic of Fiji and then to Republic of the Fiji Islands in 1997.

Polynesians and Melanesians migrated to the South Pacific centuries ago and now the population in Fiji is a mixture of both. Indentured labourers were brought in from India between 1879 and 1916 to work in the sugarcane fields. The Indian population in Fiji grew rapidly to 60,000 after the indentured labourers who were brought in. There were more Indian migration into the country in 1920’s and 30’s, who formed the core of Fiji’s business class. Indo-Fijian population declined owing to emigration and lower birth rate and currently constitutes about 37% of the total population in Fiji. Since 1940’s to the 80’s, they were the largest ethnic group within the Fiji community.

The Museum in Fiji is located in the middle of Suva’s botanical gardens, and holds the remarkable archeological collection, dating back 3,700 years. The museum also features cultural objects belonging to both, the Fiji’s indigenous inhabitants and the ones who have settled in the group of islands, over the past 100 years. There are excellent trinkets from the past on display in the museum. You will also find some larger objects like traditional canoes on exhibit in the museum. The Cultural Centre at Pacific Harbour offers theatrical displays of Fiji’s past and present culture.

The Viti Levu Beaches are not great for beaches as we know. The coast is much covered in mangrove forests and as the beach appears, it is often muddy. The best stretch of beach of all on Viti Levu, is the coral coast and there are some resorts which have come up which have beautifully manicured white sandy beaches with palm trees and lagoons.

Amongst Fijis volcanic islands, at Malolo Lailai, you will find a long stretch of fine white sand and palm trees, where the view of the yacht club and the bay are stunning. You may walk through the shallow waters to the neighbouring Malolo Island, the largest island in the Mamanuca Group, and visit some of the good cove beaches, pleasant resort beach and several local villages where shells are sold.
You will find two beautiful beaches at the Mana Island, and the beach along side the resort has multitude of activities with water-skiing, parasailing, bars and even an underground spot where you can see the coral underwater views without getting wet. Mana Island is a spot where you can walk around for couple of hours making it a good spot for beachcombing.

Fiji is an exotic destination for its romantic environment, providing a great place for honeymooners and others who love the quietness and sound of the sea, with the quiet calm of the clean nature. The view of the dolphins arching high into the air beside your boat is a sight which has its worth of its own. Surfers, from all over the world, are drawn to the incredible six-meter wave found offshore at Tavarua. It is where you would enjoy floating in the calm waters of a turquoise lagoon at sunset or take a walk through the lush green rainforest.

When you visit Fiji, you would be taking your cell phone with you. You would need to be in touch with your business associates, friends and with your family back hope, and also be available to the people who want to get in touch with you. Today, a cell phone has become a necessity in our daily lives. You had gone on such visits abroad in the days when mobile telephony was not available. You had to make those calls, and you had done so by using the telephone available in your room at the hotel. It was quite expensive.

With the advent of mobile telephony, you had taken your cell phone abroad on roaming. You had made calls to your associates and friends, both locally and internationally, and kept in touch with your family back home. You paid roaming charges for the calls that you made and received, which were much higher than what is ordinarily charged. The bill that you received at the end of the month was exorbitant and way out of the budget that you had in mind.

Now there is a way to save on such visits. A pre-paid SIM card for Fiji saves you up to 80% of your call expenses. When you buy a pre-paid SIM card for Fiji, you get a local number and you pay for your calls as the locals do. All your incoming calls are free of charge and you do not pay anything for roaming. You do not sign any contract with any service provider and there will not be any bills coming to you at the end of the month. You will get a certain talk time credit when you buy the pre-paid SIM card for Fiji, which enables you to use your cell phone right away. As you go low on your talk time credit, you can always purchase recharge coupons or vouchers from practically any shop in Fiji and replenish your talk time credit level. These vouchers are available in many denominations and you can choose the value of the talk time credit that you would want. Since you pre-pay for the calls that you make, you can keep a track on the expenses that you incurring on the calls that you make. This helps you to maintain your budget set for such expenditures. For more information on pre-paid SIM card for Fiji and its prices, visit www.planetomni.com/FAQ_sim.shtml

Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card is the intelligent module in your cell phone, which connects you to the concerned networks, as you travel, and makes it possible for you to make and receive calls and have seamless conversations. The SIM card is a little smaller in size than that of a postage stamp and is a printed circuit board smart card. It has a microprocessor and memory and holds unique information regarding your connectivity, comprising of your subscription information, the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of your mobile phone and other security details. When you switch on your phone, the information is transmitted to the nearest tower of the place you are visiting, which is checked for validity and security by the network. If all goes well, you are logged in the network and only then you are ready to use your cell phone for the purpose you want. The SIM card also holds your address book, where the names and the phone numbers that you call frequently are stored. It also logs the numbers of the incoming and outgoing calls and also those calls, which you fail to answer. These numbers are logged along with its relevant time and date. This is done for your references.

When you visit Fiji you will need a GSM cell phone compatible with the network frequency bands operated in Fiji. It may be possible that you own a GSM handset, but it is very unlikely that the phone would work in Fiji. Here is the reason why. Networks in North America, Canada and few other neighbouring countries, operate on 850MHz and 1900MHZ GSM frequency bands, where-as Fiji works on a single frequency band, which is 900MHz. This incompatibility in the bandwidths is the reason why a cell phone, procured and used in the United States, will not work in Fiji. In reality, very few countries in the world use the same frequency bands which match the ones used in North America, Canada and a few countries in the Americas, and this sets these countries apart from others, as far as GSM frequency bands are concerned.

Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) is the first open structured, digital mobile technology and replaces the old first generation (1G) analog system. GSM was first developed in Europe and is the second generation (2G) of mobile telephony. GSM is being used in over 214 countries and has more than 80% subscribers out of the total number of mobile users in the world. It has four sets of frequency bands, 850 MHz, 900 MHz, and 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz, and these are distributed to different regions in the world. Some of the bandwidths are common between regions.

In order to facilitate subscribers, travelling from one country to the other with their cell phones, mobile handsets are available in multi-frequency bandwidths. The Quad-band is compatible with all the GSM bandwidths and can work in any country in the world. The Tri-band is compatible with three of the GSM bandwidths, 800MHz, 900MHz and 1800MHz frequency bands and is compatible with most of the GSM regions. The Dual-band is compatible with only two of the GSM frequency bands, 800MHz and 1900 MHz.

The GSM phone that you are taking along with you to Fiji, with your pre-paid SIM card for Fiji has to be SIM unlocked. That is to say, that the cell phone should be able to work with any SIM card. A SIM locked cell phone will only work with the SIM card that it is meant for. With a SIM locked phone you will not be able to use your pre-paid SIM card for Fiji.

When you sign a contract with a service provider, a clause in that contract might stipulate that you need to use the services of the provider for a definite period of time, which is generally one year. Under the contract, the service provider will provide a cell phone absolutely free of cost, which becomes yours at the end if the contract period. When you receive your cell phone from the service provider, you also receive the SIM card. Your phone is SIM locked, making it to only work with the SIM card that you have received from the service provider. This is done to ensure that you use the services of the provider and none other. At the end of the contract period, the service provider helps you to SIM unlock your phone, which then may be used with any SIM card that you want.
Therefore, it becomes necessary that, firstly you ensure that the GSM mobile that you are taking with you in Fiji is bandwidth compatible and secondly, that your phone is SIM unlocked.

If you are a frequent traveller to countries outside the United States, it would be economical for you to buy a cell phone, compatible with the frequency bands of the countries that you regularly visit. If you do not travel frequently, it is highly economical for you to rent such a phone. For more information on renting or buying a GSM cell phone, visit http://www.planetomni.com/FAQ_gsm.shtml

A pre-paid SIM card for Fiji is affordable and also saves you substantially on your phone call expenses. You are charged the same way as the locals are and all your incoming calls are free. You do not pay anything for roaming. Further, since you pre-pay for your calls, you can keep a track on the expenses that you are incurring and hence can contain your self within the budget that you have set for the purpose.

Cell phone use overseas.
In 99% of the world the local cellular service standard is called GSM. We use this in the states as well. When combined with a SIM CARD (which usually goes under the battery of the phone) the phone is able to communicate and the SIM CARD also holds the telephone number and memory for pre-paid credit. Rates can be extremely low using this system. For example in 99% of all SIM CARDS incoming calls are free and calls to the states can cost a trifle. Such as, from the UK to the USA 7 cents/minute, from Israel 22 cents, from Australia 27 cents. Yes, USA Dollar cents! There are today even prepaid service providers in the USA offering rates of 10 cents per minute to call anywhere in the US to any type of phone. No contracts, no credit card checks, no bills. Pre-paid always means no minimums no contracts, no obligations. You only pay for the calls made. You’ll need an unlocked GSM tri-band or quadband UNLOCKED phone. You can buy factory unlocked phones and sim cards for more than 170 of the 193 countries on earth from http://www.planetomni.com Tel. # 800-514-2984