Вакая: Тарихы мен географиясы (Wakaya: Tarihy men geografiyasy)

Wakaya is a privately owned island in Fiji's Lomaiviti Archipelago. Situated at 17.65° South and 179.02° East, it covers an area of It is to the east of Ovalau, the main island in the Lomaiviti Group. Two other islands close to Wakaya are Makogai to the north, and Batiki to the south east. The coastal marine ecosystem of the island contributes to its national significance as outlined in Fiji's Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. Since 1840, the island has been privately owned. In 1862, Wakaya became the site of the first attempt at commercial sugar production in Fiji. In the early 1940s, Wakaya was proposed as a new home for the Banabans. In 1973, Wakaya was purchased by businessman David Gilmour who also developed the island, building a resort, the Wakaya Club & Spa. In 2016, it was sold to the now convicted Seagram's heiress Clare Bronfman who now owns most of the island.

The forested island of Wakaya is triangular in shape. In 2016, Cyclone Winston caused damage to nearby coral reefs and significant damage to the vegetation on Wakaya. Following the cyclone, a clam reintroduction and rehabilitation project was started in Wakaya and nearby Makogai later that year by the Ministry of Fisheries, as some species, such as the tevoro clam, had become locally extinct in Fiji due to being overharvested. Efforts were also being made by the ministry to conserve the endangered green turtle. Wakayan chiefs lived in Korolevu. In 1964 and around 1992 fieldwork of the forts on Wakaya was carried out. In December 1840, the ship Currency Lass arrived in Levuka on Ovalau, and Houghton, the ship's owner, bought the island of Wakaya from the chief of Ovalau, the Tui Levuka. In the early 1860s, 10 Vanuatu men, who were stranded by a sandalwood ship, worked on a plantation on Wakaya. The first attempt at commercial sugar production in Fiji was by David Whippy on Wakaya Island in 1862, where he built a sugarcane mill, but this was a financial failure, as the island is small and not suited for growing sugarcane. Whippy was an American sailor and trader who first arrived in Fiji in 1824, and spent the later years of his life on Wakaya until his death in 1871. In 1877, the island was bought by Captain Frederick Lennox Langdale (1853–1913), a former Royal Navy officer, who later served on the Legislative Council of Fiji before being appointed governor's commissioner at Cakaudrove to the north, a position he resigned from around 1909. Langdale had a Tudor style house on the island by 1899; a few years after 1907, it was completely destroyed in a storm that also killed four Fijians. In the late 1890s, Langdale also became the manager of the coconut plantations on Rabi Island, at the offer of Pacific Islands Company Ltd.

On 21 September 1917, during World War I, German naval officer Felix von Luckner and his party were arrested at Wakaya by a group from the Fijian constabulary consisting of a British officer and four Indian soldiers. Previously that year, Luckner had been raiding Entente ships as the commander of the SMS Seeadler, but the ship wrecked on Mopelia island in French Polynesia during a storm, causing Luckner and five of his men to flee on a boat with the goal of capturing a vessel and returning for the rest of the crew. Armed with machine
guns and rifles, and posing as Norwegians, they visited the Cook Islands and set off towards Fiji. On 11–12 January 1930 a tropical cyclone impacted the Fijian islands of Makogai, Wakaya and Gau, where it caused a moderate amount of damage. In 1930, the roughly 7 month long construction of the Wakaya lighthouse on the Wakaya reef was finished. The reef is located from Wakaya island. The lighthouse is of reinforced concrete and has a height of above the reef level.

In the early 1940s, the Banabans proposed the acquisition of Wakaya as a new home for themselves, as their home island of Banaba was being exploited for phosphate by the British, thereby destroying it. At that time Wakaya was owned by Wakaya Ltd,efn|The executor of the late R. B. S. Watson's will owned most of the company's shares. At least $13 million were spent on the development of the island, The resort has 10 luxury bures (bungalows), including the Governor's Bure and the Ambassador's Bure, which are grander than the rest. It also houses a large private villa called Vale O (House in the Clouds), which was built in the 1990s. Starting in the early 1980s, Wakaya was managed by the married couple of Rob and Lynda Miller for 28 years.

Wakaya was devastated by Cyclone Winston in early 2016. As of 2018, the Resort Civil and Grounds Manager was Niumaia Niumataiwalu. In 2022, the American tourism marketing company Pacific Storytelling partnered with the Wakaya Club & Spa resort. In 2023, Monika Pal was appointed as the general manager of the resort, having previously been a manager since 2016.

The original inhabitants were removed in 1840, and the island became privately owned. Since then, as of 1971, the island hadn't had more than a few plantation workers and their families living on it.

There is a private aerodrome on the island operated by ACK Management PTE Ltd. Its IATA airport code is KAY and its ICAO airport code is NFNW. As of 1982, there was a long airstrip. The airline Air Wakaya had come into existence by 1991 and operated a 1992 Britten Norman Islander by 2002. The airline began operating a Cessna 208 Caravan sometime during 2003–2005. It now owns an 11 seat plane, the Cessna 208 Grand Caravan EX, which it acquired in 2013. Flights are done from Nadi Airport to Wakaya.