Three miles from the bustling streets of the capital, Kings Highway gently transitions into Nasinu, Fiji’s most densely populated township. Taking a right turn at Lady Maraia Road, opposite Nabua Broncos rugby league club, places you between the British American Tobacco Fiji cigarette factory and the Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Memorial School (RSMS), run by the Great Council of Chiefs.
This area uniquely straddles the border between Suva and Nasinu. However, its charm lies not in its roads, buildings, or fast cars, but in its best-kept secret. Behind RSMS’s structures, near the Wainivula River banks and among towering mahogany and pine trees, resides a noisy colony of arboreal megabats roosting at Donnelly Park.
Walking through this coniferous and deciduous forest park during the heat of the day, you can hear the high-pitched clicking and see the upside-down huddles of these flying foxes. The distinct ‘boi sigasiga’ or ‘sweaty smell,’ described by locals, pervades the area, especially when the colony is large.
Until recently, my knowledge of bats was limited to evolutionary timelines and high school biology. Yet, the idea of visiting what could be Suva’s largest bat roost drew me to Lady Maraia Road.
Donnelly Park’s trees provide a perfect roosting haven for bats, offering protection from predators and ground threats and shelter from harsh elements. Additionally, the area seems ideal for foraging fruits, nectar, and insects. The bat colony likely settled in the area between the 1980s and 1990s, as former RSMS students recount.
Vatimi Mateiwai, an RSMS student from the 1970s, recalls that the school initially had mostly jamun trees, frequented by bats for their fruits but not as a large roosting site. He believes bats moved in when more trees were cut down in the greater Suva-Nausori corridor, leaving them with fewer suitable roosting options.
RSMS’s Donnelly Park is named after William Earnest Donnelly, a New Zealand teacher and Methodist Church reverend who became the school’s first principal when it was established in August 1960 based on the GCC’s 1959 advice.
Since 2018, RSMS manager Levi Raicola has admired the uniqueness of these mammals. He encourages students to respect the bat colony, often sharing insights into the critical role bats play in seed dispersal, emphasizing their importance to Fiji’s ecosystem.
Mr. Raicola also observed peculiar bat behaviors, noting their ritual-like evening routines before taking off to forage and returning at dawn. The Donnelly Park bats contribute significantly to pest control, pollinating plants, and dispersing seeds. Scientific research estimates that bats provide pest-control services worth $3.7 billion to $53 billion annually across the US. In agriculture, bats help pollinate plants used for tequila production and their guano is a valuable fertilizer.
Nature Fiji (Vakamareqeti Viti) states that five out of six bat species in Fiji are endangered or critically endangered. Resource conservation efforts are vital as bat populations play a critical role in maintaining forest viability and resilience against climate change impacts.
Bats can live over 30 years and typically produce one pup per year. Bats feed mainly on insects, though some consume fruit, nectar, meat, and small fish. They use various roosts, including day, night, maternity, bachelor, and hibernation roosts. During the day, they stay close together in high roosts, away from predators, resting before nocturnal foraging.
In August last year, a cave housing thousands of endangered Pacific Sheath-tailed bats was discovered on Vanuabalavu in Lau, significant for its large bat population. The RSMS bat colony may be one of the largest urban bat sanctuaries, and protecting them and their pine and mahogany forest habitat is essential.
Human activities and development threaten these populations, increasing reliance on chemical pesticides, posing environmental and health risks, disrupting ecosystem balance, and threatening plant and animal species.
Next time you see a bat, remember their role in preserving our seasonal fruits like mangoes, kavika, and breadfruit, and appreciate the remarkable flying mammals striving to endure amidst changing landscapes.