This was published 10 years ago
Paradise lost no longer
Craig Tansley discovers an island of simple pleasures.
Water world: To Sua Ocean Trench.
It’s pigs that rule Savai’i; they hold little regard for modern traffic laws and appear indifferent to the superior speed and size of motor vehicles.
They cross roads at will, most often on blind corners, regularly stopping to doze on the warm hard mattress that doubles as Savaii’s only bitumen road.
Most other souls on Savai’i – about 45,000 islanders spread across Polynesia’s third-largest island – appear content to sleep through the hottest part of the day inside open-walled traditional houses in tiny villages. On my first day in Savai’i, a visitor asks a guide why locals sleep so much. “Why not?” she answers simply.
Nothing but air: Swinging, Samoa-styleCredit: Louisa Kirby
But don’t go thinking locals are lazy; all across the island lawns are mowed, hedges trimmed, rubbish is burnt, vegetable plantations are tended and washing is hung out across breadfruit trees and on rope strung between coconut trees beside the road. Who knows when Savai’ians perform these chores given the number of locals I spot lying by lagoons and by the road, gossiping, sleeping, or staring contentedly at the blue horizon.
Then again, Savai’i epitomises that all-elusive sleepy paradise; houses front on to a lagoon full of fish and lobster, while paw-paw, mango, breadfruit and guava trees grow quickly in the fertile volcanic soils of their front yards.
Few islands in the South Pacific offer such a safe and simple family holiday environment. As one of the most traditional islands in Polynesia, Savai’i presents some of the South Pacific’s best – and cheapest – natural tourist attractions. Tended by traditional land-owners, you will likely have to wake them up to pay the meagre entry fee (often just 5 tala a person – about $2.30).
Idyllic: The beach village of Le Lagato.
Savai’i offers families a journey back to an era of simpler pleasures – long before cinemas, arcades and fun parks. On Savai’i’s northern coastline, I climb high into gigantic fig trees and walk cautiously along a narrow30-metre-long swaying bridge to other trees at the Falealupo Rainforest Preserve.
There’s no guide, and I feel like I’ve discovered the ultimate treehouse in someone’s backyard.
Further south, I don a mask and snorkel and swim among a colony of green turtles saved from fishing nets at the Satoalepai turtle reserve. Again, there’s no guide so I can only assume the turtles don’t bite (they can grow as heavy as 185 kilograms in the wild). I swim beside them for an hour, mirroring their movements as they move about the large pond. The turtles are released back into the ocean when they have recovered.
Pristine waters: Snorkelling.
On the southern coast of Savai’i, I stumble on one of the South Pacific’s most picturesque waterfalls, Afu Aau. After waking a local woman to enter, I discover a 25-metre-highwaterfall that cascades into a huge freshwater swimming hole ringed by a handful of smaller waterfalls.
Above it a sheer, towering wall of ferns shuts me off from the outside world. I jump off five-metre-high rock platforms into the clearwater and climb on to the rocks under the waterfall, staring up at the blue sky through the mist and ferns.
Not far from Afu Aau, I drive down a rough track to the Alofaaga Blowholes beside the sea where wild waves pound into the fringing reef. An old local motions at me to let him into the car and we drive further. When the track ends, we walk across volcanic rocks and stop at a half-metre-wide hole in the rock platform.
The old man tosses a coconut into it and a sudden surge of air and water blasts the coconut 30 metres into the air. I’m fascinated, and try it again and again – Savai’i, I discover, brings out my inner child.
There are many more attractions: a volcanic rim at Mt Matavanu that drops hundreds of metres right below your feet guarded by an eccentric local dubbed Crater Man; snorkeling among some of the brightest and most preserved coral in Polynesia; surfing Savai’i’s southern coastline and kayaking in the lagoon while watching traditional fishermen.
But it’s the simplest things about Savai’i that make this island ideal for unrushed family vacations. I stop at a restaurant on the north coast called Va-i-Moana and while I wait for a lunch of fresh-caught lobster I walk to the restaurant’s dock and jump into a clear lagoon as a turtle swims by. Like most things on Savai’i, the meal takes time to arrive; when it does the manager apologises: “I’m sorry, we were so busy today.”
There were five other people in the restaurant.
The writer was a guest of the Samoa Tourism Authority.
TRIP NOTES
MORE INFORMATION
samoa.travel; samoatourism.com.au.
GETTING THERE
Virgin Samoa flies direct to Apia three times a week from Sydney.
See virginaustralia.com; phone 13 67 89.
STAYING THERE
Le Lagoto Resort & Spa has beachfront suites from US$350 ($373) a night. See lelagoto.ws. You can also stay in luxury suites or deluxe beach villas close by at Stevenson’s at Manase. See stevensonsatmanase.com.
GREAT FAMILY DIGS
AGGIE GREY’S
One of the South Pacific’s most famous hotels, Aggie Grey’s will reopen in August after being destroyed in a cyclone. Aggie Grey’s first owner was an inspiration for a character in James A Michener’s book and the musical South Pacific. The rebuilt hotel is being rebranded as Samoa’s first international chain resort.
See aggiegreys.com.
LE LAGOTO
Located beside one of Savai’i’s best beaches, Le Lagoto (pictured) is one of Samoa’s premier high-end family hotels. While Savaii might feel lost in an earlier era, Le Lagoto is a slick accommodation option offering all mod-cons like wireless internet but with enough hammocks under coconut trees (and a cocktail bar with views over the lagoon at sunset) to always remind where you are.
Children under five stay for free. Rooms start at $315 a night. See lelagoto.ws.
STEVENSON’S AT MANASE
Just a few metres from a private bay where colourful fish swim beside the shore, Stevenson’s at Manase offers three accommodation options: European-style wall-less fales with rock en-suites; beach villas with traditional tapa decor; and enclosed outside showers; and larger family villas. Family villas from $185 a night for two, kids 4-11 $45. See stevensonsatmanase.com.
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