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World Bound: Fiji 2027
Where Dreams and Reality Ignite your Leadership Journey
Embark on a 21-day youth leadership adventure course in the paradise of Fiji. This island nation is the perfect setting for an unforgettable journey exploring its breathtaking landscapes, rich culture, vast oceanscapes, and world-renowned hospitality.
This is more than a trip. It’s a South Pacific outdoor leadership experience designed to stay with young people long after they come home.
Teens step into a real wilderness expedition where outdoor adventure becomes the classroom. Along the way, they build practical leadership and life skills, explore climate change through the land and water around them, learn about possible career and education pathways, and take part in land-based learning, cultural exchange and hands-on conservation.
Yes - we can connect the learning with your school studies.
They’ll paddle, navigate, scuba, snorkel, fish, problem-solve, work as a team, take on responsibility and learn what it means to contribute to a small expedition community. These experiences build confidence, resilience, independence, communication and decision-making — skills that matter just as much back home when navigating school, friendships, family, community and whatever comes next.
The adventure may happen in one of the most remarkable wilderness settings on Earth, but the real journey is what participants discover about themselves along the way.
100% community land-based learning, working directly with local and Indigenous communities, experts and service providers.
Fiji provides the perfect backdrop for personal growth and teen camps. Its welcoming communities, deep-rooted traditions, and living connection to both land and sea create powerful opportunities to learn not only about sustainability and resilience, but also about belonging, leading with integrity, and living with purpose. Fiji is considered one of the world’s safest destinations to travel to and visit.
Live, Learn & Explore Fiji
This is not a resort tour type of youth experience of Fiji. Teens will live close to the land, ocean and communities that make these islands remarkable.
Throughout the course, our small groups move between three very different home bases: living and learning on our upstart local farm, camping together on a remote beach, and staying at our beach house base camp. Each place offers a different way to experience Fiji and understand the relationship between people, culture, food, land and ocean.
What will participants experience?
Skills & Experiences You Won’t Find at a Typical Youth Camp
Explore Fiji’s reefs, mangroves and island ecosystems. Snorkel coral reefs, explore coastal environments and learn firsthand how climate change is affecting the ocean, land and the communities that depend on them.
Learn with Fijian communities and knowledge keepers. Share meals, stories and everyday life, including a one-night homestay. This is cultural exchange built around relationships, participation and learning from local people.
Help build a traditional Fijian dugout canoe. Working alongside experienced local boat builders, youth will learn about the tools, techniques and generational knowledge behind a craft that has connected Fijian communities to the ocean for centuries.
Learn spearfishing and deep-sea fishing. Local outdoor educators introduce youth to fishing techniques, ocean safety, reading conditions and the connection between harvesting food, culture and the marine environment.
Take on a six-day remote beach expedition. Camp beside the ocean, paddleboard, snorkel, fish, navigate the coastline, hike to a 1,500+ year-old settlement, participate in coral conservation and take part in a guided solo experience. It is six days of learning to live simply and work together in a remote setting.
Become a certified Open Water scuba diver. During a three-day course with Volivoli, participants learn the foundations of scuba diving before experiencing Fiji’s underwater world firsthand.
Build real expedition and leadership skills. Navigation, paddling, campcraft, food preparation, decision-making, teamwork and group leadership are woven throughout the program. Youth aren't just participating in activities... they gradually take greater responsibility for the experience.
Digital Detox: Reclaim the Experience: All Fireside child and youth programs are mobile-phone and personal-technology free. For some, it’s a digital detox; for everyone, it’s a chance to be fully present... to build real friendships, take healthy risks, notice what’s around them and experience adventure without a screen in the way. Staff will take gabillion photos and videos to share with parents and youth. Put the phone away. Get the experience back.
What makes Fiji different is who youth learn from and where the learning happens. A boat builder, fisher, farmer, dive instructor, community elder or outdoor educator can become the teacher. The reef, village, farm, ocean and remote beach become the classroom.
THIS IS A BIG, AWESOME DECISION! You are 15 minutes away from having your tough questions answered. Click here to book a quick Zoom or phone chat with Fireside Adventures’ leadership team (Willy, Ethan, Bella & Barnsy).
DATES
June 27 – July 17, 2027 (flight departs Vancouver on June 25, 2027)
July 27 – August 14, 2027 (flight departs Vancouver on July 24, 2027)
LOCATIONS
Nadi • Fiji • Suncoast Region •
AGES
13–18 (co-ed)*
*Also available for 18+. Contact us if interested.
PRICES (CAD)
$9,599 + GST*
Non-refundable deposit: $1000 + GST
*$1500.00 off the price if you are booking your own flight.
* Includes return flight from Vancouver if you book before January 31, 2027
$600.00 off if you book before November 15, 2027
Includes:
– Vancouver-Fiji return flight and flight coordination
– Pre-course check-in (Zoom conference with attendees)
– Direct contact with our Duke of Edinburgh Award Centre
– 24/7 instruction & support by Fireside and Suncoast staff
– Most meals
– Day trips to Suva, Rakiraki
– Visit local bee and honey business setting high marks for sustainable best practices
– Nabalasere Waterfall visit (also called Savulelele Waterfall) is a stunning 70-meter (230-foot) drop located near Nabalasere Village in the interior of Viti Levu, Fiji
– All accommodation (glamping, tenting, and beach lodge)
– Private ground transportation
– Group camping equipment
– Admission to all activities based on the itinerary
– 3-day Scuba Diving Certification (60% of the cost) for extra $450.00 CAD paid by the participant.
– 6-day (5 nights) remote and private island camping expedition, including a Survivor version of finding the ruins of a 1500-year-old village buried in the tropical forest
– 2 full days of snorkelling within the 3rd biggest reef in the world during the expedition
– week-long farm-to-canoe volunteer and workshop training format
– Fijian language lessons (4+ hours)
– 2 days of spearfishing and deep-sea fishing during the expedition
– paddleboarding and coastline adventure during the expedition
Does not include: Anything not mentioned above.
More info: office@firesideadventures.ca
More Than a Typical Youth Adventure
There will be incredible moments ... reefs, beaches, diving, fishing and sunsets ... but those aren't what make this experience powerful.
It is living with a small group. Helping prepare a meal. Learning from someone whose life is very different from your own. Being uncomfortable sometimes. Having responsibilities. Figuring things out. Laughing around a table. Spending enough time in one place that the people around you start to know your name.
These are the moments where adventure becomes education.
As educational philosopher John Dewey wrote, “All genuine education comes about through experience.”
That idea is at the heart of this program. We don't want young people simply hearing about climate change, leadership, community or culture. We want them experiencing these ideas, asking questions and discovering what they mean for themselves.
The Spirit of Fiji
Some of the simplest Fijian words also say a lot about what participants experience here:
“Bula” ... more than hello; it carries a sense of life, health and welcome.
“Vinaka” ... thank you, and a word participants will quickly become familiar with as relationships grow.
“Sega na leqa” ... no worries/no problem ... a phrase that captures some of the warmth, patience and adaptability participants encounter in everyday Fijian life.
The goal isn't to come home having simply seen Fiji. It is to come home having lived differently for a while ... with stronger friendships, greater independence, a deeper understanding of another culture and a clearer sense of the kind of person and leader you want to become.
This World Bound course isn’t simply about where you travel... it’s about who you become along the way.
What Truly Defines a Fireside Fiji Experience?
Fiji is known for more than beautiful beaches. It is the warmth of its people, the strength of community and a way of life that values connection, generosity and time together. It is a place that invites young people to put down their phones, slow down and be present.
Our dynamic leadership course is based along Fiji’s Suncoast on the northern coast of Viti Levu, away from the major resort areas. Here, coral reefs, mangroves, farms, mountains and villages become part of the learning experience.
Youth see climate change and conservation firsthand. They explore reefs and mangroves, learn about coral restoration, work alongside local farmers, prepare a traditional lovo, and hear directly from Fijian knowledge keepers about the changes they are seeing in their land and ocean.
Thanks to our local partners, youth don't experience Fiji from the sidelines. They participate. They fish, paddle, cook, build, camp, contribute to community projects and share everyday life with the people teaching them.
The result is something difficult to create in a classroom: real relationships, real responsibility and a deeper understanding of how culture, community and the environment are connected.
This is not about simply seeing Fiji. It is about experiencing Fiji through the people who call it home.
This journey is not just about visiting Fiji, it’s about becoming part of it. Here, you will discover the power of community, the importance of living in balance with the land and sea, and perhaps, discover a deeper sense of yourself.
Are you ready to experience Fiji and be transformed by it?
Liam “Barnsy” Barnes, Lead Guide & Director of Fireside Adventures
Normally… you’d find me up North wearing an “I’D RATHER BE ON THE YUKON RIVER” shirt. However, Fiji has a special place in my heart because it’s one of those magical places that are simply… HEALING. In the wilderness, HEALING comes from being immersed in nature and away from screens. In Fiji, HEALING comes from the deep feeling of community that you get while spending time in the indigenous villages and living the simple Fiji life. PLUS - we get to do the wilderness thing in Fiji as well (island experience). So, as I am typing this, I am realizing that Fiji is a unique double whammy of wholesome: remote camping and pure community experiences. After my first time in Fiji, I came away thinking, “back in the city, we are very poor when it comes to community. We need to be more like Fiji. BULA!”
About me… been working in Experiential Education since I was 16, first under the mentorship of Mike Kent and then under Willy since 2019. I am in this business for life. “Kids these days!!!” - they need something fast and furious, some sort of “electric guitar of learning”, and Outdoor & Community Experiential Education is my answer.
Every child is born a shining light. If we keep all those lights from going out, there’ll be no darkness.
Book a phone or Zoom meeting with me now and claim your free harmonica (but you have to sign up for something)
Our World Bound Course Objectives
World Bound: Fiji is about more than just travel; it’s about weaving together Fijian and South Pacific perspectives on leadership, culture, outdoor adventure, and climate change education to prepare youth for purposeful action in a rapidly changing world.
No, we won’t overwhelm participants with endless doom-and-gloom stories about a climate apocalypse. No, we won’t offer fluffy affirmations or false hope. And no, we won’t drown them in distant international policy discussions that feel irrelevant.
Instead, we will give young people what they truly want and need: hands-on skills, community connection, and leadership training that empower them to become real climate leaders. Guided by outdoor educators, Indigenous knowledge keepers, and sustainability practitioners, youth will experience the world’s most pressing issues through the eyes, land, and culture of Fijians themselves.
At the heart of this program is the World Bound Learning Experience: a set of place-based, outdoor-oriented learning modules shaped by the communities and landscapes of Fiji. Rooted in experiential education and framed by our five World Bound Pillars, the curriculum turns adventure into a pathway for resilience, responsibility, and global citizenship.. For more detailed information about the curriculum, please visit our World Bound Curriculum page. We are also working towards adopting UN Sustainable Development Goals in everything we do and experience.
World Bound Pillars (Fiji) — Adventure with Purpose
Why this is unique: you’re not just visiting Fiji—you’re learning with Fijians. Every day blends climate education, culture, and real outdoor skills so you leave stronger, braver, and ready to lead.
Pillar 1: From Reef to Resilience: Climate × Culture (South Pacific)
Indigenous and Local Knowledge: Learn straight from our partners at Suncoast Adventures how Fijian communities live, adapt, and thrive with changing seas and seasons.
Intercultural Understanding: The South Pacific is on the front line of climate change. Here, culture = strategy, from village protocols to community decision-making about storms, rising seas, and conservation.
Conservation in Action: Get hands-on with coral care, mangrove planting, and coastal cleanups. You’ll leave with humility (listen first), courage (step up), and a clearer picture of what effective climate action looks like.
Pillar 2: Field Classrooms — Waterfalls • Ocean • Islands
Waterfalls: Trek mountain forest trail and see how invasive species and land use reshape fragile ecosystems while visiting one Fiji’s biggest waterfalls. Swimming and going behind the waterfalls is exactly what we need for a mid-point hike.
Ocean: Snorkel biodiverse reefs and learn why places like the Great Astrolabe Reef matter to food, culture, and coastal protection.
Islands: Each of Fiji’s 333 islands tells a different story of ecology, tradition, and resilience.
Skills you build: route-finding, observation, low-impact travel, and reading landscapes, all transferable to any adventure back home.
Pillar 3: Give & Belong — Community, Service, Connection
Community Homestays: Live the rhythm of village life’s language, cooking, games, and daily work as shared generously by your hosts.
Community projects: Support mangrove restoration, reef stewardship, and regenerative agriculture that communities actually asked for.
Global Friendships: Swap stories and goals with Fijian youth and international peers; your crew becomes your network.
You’ll feel: real belonging, stronger empathy, and confidence speaking with (not at) communities.
Pillar 4: Lead the Adventure — Life, Social & Leadership Skills
Outdoor skills: navigation, campcraft, snorkelling, scuba lessons, ocean safety, and wilderness risk management.
Culture & communication: learn basic Fijian, practice storytelling, and craft respectfully with local mentors.
Leadership reps: team roles, briefings, conflict resolution, and a guided solo reflection to integrate what you’ve learned. The outcome: self-efficacy. You’ll know you can plan, make decisions, support a team, and lead with respect.
Food systems and practical sustainability: plan and cook simple, healthy meals using local ingredients; learn waste-smart kitchens and cooking over a fire
Through-the-Lens project: capture the journey in clips/photos and produce a 2–3 minute mini-doc that blends culture, climate insight, and your voice.
Pillar 5: Keep the Flame — From Insight to Action
Your plan: turn lessons into a personal climate-action plan (home, school, community) with clear, doable steps.
Your network: connect with local activists, entrepreneurs, and educators for ongoing mentorship.
Your Award: Pursue the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and explore internships or future leadership roles.
Family Green Charter Project: Each participant will provide a family plan (charter) to incorporate ways of reducing household carbon footprint.
Result: momentum. You come home with skills, allies, and a roadmap, not just memories.
The Fireside Approach: Challenge. Strive. Learn.
Fireside programs are built around experience, challenge, service and reflection... helping young people expand their comfort zones, discover what they are capable of and carry that learning back into their schools, relationships and communities. Inspired in part by educator Kurt Hahn, we intentionally create opportunities for curiosity, initiative, physical engagement, self-discipline, compassion and meaningful responsibility... qualities young people need opportunities to practise, not simply be told about.
Our youth and young-adult programs are phone- and technology-free. For some, that feels like a digital detox; for others, it is a chance to reclaim a piece of childhood and adolescence... to be fully present, build real friendships and experience adventure without a screen between themselves and the moment. This practice comes from more than 20 years of working with young people and hearing, again and again, how valuable it is to have a place where everyone disconnects together.
Wherever we travel, we are grateful visitors... they are the spectrum of experts. We strive to work alongside local and Indigenous guides, knowledge keepers, storytellers, educators, families and service providers, recognizing that knowledge comes from many people and that those who live within a place carry perspectives, histories and relationships to the land and community that are not ours to speak for.
We welcome participants from different social and economic backgrounds, cultures, identities, beliefs and perspectives. We ask everyone to arrive with curiosity, respect and a willingness to listen, question assumptions and consider another point of view... because just because we say it, think it or have heard it before doesn’t necessarily make it right.
Our leaders don't tell participants what to think. Our responsibility is to connect experience with learning, provide credible context, ask good questions and create space for thoughtful conversation, disagreement and reflection. Across our programs, climate change, conservation, culture and our changing relationship with the natural world are explored at a depth appropriate to each journey.
Ultimately, Challenge. Strive. Learn. is about creating values-based experiences that matter beyond the trip... helping participants expand their comfort zones, better understand themselves and others, and return home with greater confidence, perspective and responsibility for the communities they are part of.
