Ahura Resorts Iguana Sanctuary: Welcoming New Hatchlings

Most visitors come to Malolo Island for the beaches, the snorkelling, and the resort experience at Likuliku Lagoon Resort. The iguana sanctuary gives them something else entirely — a reminder that this island, like all of Fiji’s islands, contains rare and fragile life that exists nowhere else on earth.

Ahura Resorts, which operates Likuliku and Malolo Island Resort, has established a sanctuary program supporting the Fiji crested iguana (Brachylophus vitiensis). This is not a zoo exhibit or a token conservation display. It’s a genuine working program aimed at breeding success, habitat protection, and long-term population support for one of Fiji’s most critically endangered species.

The Fiji crested iguana: why it matters

The Fiji crested iguana is found only in Fiji — specifically on a handful of dry forest islands in the western part of the archipelago. It’s a striking animal: bright green, with distinctive white bands and a serrated crest running along the back that gives it its name. Adults can reach up to 75cm in length.

The species is critically endangered due to a combination of pressures: habitat loss as native dry forest has been cleared for agriculture and development, predation by invasive species (goats, cats, rats, and mongooses all damage iguana populations), and the small geographical range that makes the species inherently vulnerable.

As of the most recent IUCN assessments, total wild population estimates are very low — in the hundreds rather than thousands. Every breeding success in a managed sanctuary program directly supports the survival of the species.

What the sanctuary program involves

The Ahura Resorts program focuses on several interconnected elements:

Breeding facilities provide protected space for adult iguanas to nest and for hatchlings to develop in a predator-free environment. Young iguanas are particularly vulnerable — mortality rates in the wild during the first year are high — so protected early-life conditions are critical to survival rates.

Habitat management on the island involves maintaining and restoring native dry forest vegetation, which is the natural habitat of the Fiji crested iguana. This means managing invasive plant and animal species and protecting the tree species that iguanas depend on for food and shelter.

Guest education is integrated into the sanctuary experience. Visitors learn about why this animal is significant, what threats it faces, and how the program contributes to broader conservation efforts. This kind of informed tourism creates real conservation value — guests who understand what they’re seeing leave as advocates.

How visitors can engage

The sanctuary is designed with respectful wildlife viewing in mind. Iguanas are sensitive to noise and sudden movement, and flash photography can cause genuine stress. The guidance from sanctuary staff is straightforward:

Approach slowly and quietly, keep voices low, avoid flash photography, and follow the guidance of whoever is leading your visit. The reward for this patience is the chance to observe genuinely rare, beautiful animals at close range — the kind of encounter that’s increasingly rare anywhere on earth.

The new hatchlings that the program periodically celebrates are a genuine achievement. Each successful breeding season is a measurable contribution to the long-term survival of a species that Fiji has a unique global responsibility to protect.

By: Sarika Nand