Finally, our tour guide informed us that the sand dunes were visible from where we were standing. I remember looking up in awe, having been distracted by hiking, as I saw that the man was right. I could see what appeared at the time to be miles of endless, grainy, tan hills of sand that stretched across the horizon.
My group and I were informed by our tour guide that the Sigatoka Sand Dunes used to be a rainforest that went through unnatural, anthropological (human-caused) deforestation. The deforestation led to a lack of plants and trees which in turn began a positive feedback loop in which sand from the ocean was blown onto the island and collectively formed the sand dunes.
The group and I then literally ran down the same extremely tall and steep sand dune that we had climbed earlier. Many students including myself thought that the tour guide was joking was he told us that we would be running down the sand dune to reach the shoreline below. However, the guide wasn't joking, and the other students and I proceeded down the dune as instructed! I noticed that although many people were nervous and timid about running down the very steep sand dune that frowns of anxiety rapidly turned into smiles of joy and laughter as students lined up one by one to proceed down the sand dune. What an amazing and educational opportunity!
