The National Park of American Samoa is located in the United States territory of American Samoa distributed across three islands: Tutuila, Ofu, and Ta’u. The park preserves and protects coral reefs, tropical rainforests, fruit bats, and the Samoan culture. The park is the only American National Park unit south of the equator. (Source: Wikipedia)
Established: 1988
Size: 8257 Acres
Rank in Size: 59
# Visitors in 2018: 28,626
(Visited October 10-18, 2019) My husband and I and 2 of our good friends traveled to American Samoa with Off The Beaten Path https://www.offthebeatenpath.com/ and NPCA https://www.npca.org/. I read about the trip in the NPCA magazine and decided that was how I wanted to visit this remote park. For a lot of people, this is the last park to visit on their quest to visit all 61 parks (62 as of Dec. 20, 2019). For us, we chose to go now, while we are still physically able to make the trip and enjoy the hiking and snorkeling.
It is hard to tell the story of visiting the National Park of American Samoa without telling the story of our entire visit. We visited 4 islands; traveling in and out of the official boundaries of the park. Since this park is unique in that it also protects the Samoan culture, I thought it would be best to tell the story of our visit in chronological order.
Our first full day was spent touring some National Park areas located on the north shore of the main island of Tutuila. Our group of 12 was transported in a brightly colored wooden bus, first to the National Park Visitor Center and then up into the mountainous terrain of the park. We stopped along the way to observe Fruit Bats roosting in a tree and to view Rainmaker Mountain, one of 7 National Natural Landmarks designated in American Samoa. Rainmaker Mountain faces Matafeo Peak located on the opposite side of Pago Pago Harbor and together, they represent 2 of 5 great masses of volcanic rocks extruded as molten magma during major episodes of volcanism which created Tutuila Island. (Source: National Park Service brochure)
We traveled further up the road, to the village of Vatia. We stopped at an elementary school and on the way back to Pago Pago, we stopped for a picnic lunch near the viewpoint for Pola Island. Pola Island lies within the Vai’ava Strait, another National Natural Landmark. According to the National Park literature, Vai’ava Strait is a classic illustration of steep cliffs and erosion-resistant outliers formed by wave action on volcanic land mass. After lunch, we headed back to our hotel, Sadie’s by the Sea.
Some observations we made along the way revealed some interesting insights into the Samoan culture. The first being the graves with elaborate headstones/tombs in the front yards of residential homes. We learned that this is a common practice here. Family is very important to the American Samoan people and even after death, they want to stay close. Of course, this makes the already complicated land ownership issues even more complicated. The second observation was the proliferation of BINGO games being held in village Fale o’o (meeting places). We saw some of these games being advertised in local village shops and were shocked to find the entry fee to be $20 or so. This seemed very high given the low wages and high unemployment.
On Day 2, we traveled in our wooden bus to the eastern end of Tutuila Island to pick up a water taxi to Aunu’u Island. We took a rough 45 minute ride to the island on a small, questionably sea-worthy boat.
Interesting fact: The entire island of Aunu’u is protected as a National Natural Landmark due to it being an excellent exposure of a relatively young flow of basalt inter-bedded with layers of tuff. The site also illustrates erosion by wave action, and is covered with dense tropical vegetation. Source: National Park Service brochure.
Most of our visit to Aunu’u Island was spent experiencing Samoan culture. We were invited to an Ava Ceremony at our host’s home where 4 of the village chiefs shared Ava juice with us and expressing their gratitude for our visit. Manuia!! (Cheers!)
After the ceremony, we got a tour of the village. We saw 3 churches (Mormon, Congregational, and Assembly of God), 1 elementary school, the generator station supplying all the power for the island of less than 500 residents, fresh water well, and taro fields. A couple of surprising observations were the use of a generator for power… why not solar? Also, the impact of global climate change was evident. The large piles of coral washed up over the road no longer is removed. The size and frequency of heavy storms make this effort futile…. it just comes back!
After our tour, our host family (father with his 8 children; his wife died earlier in the year) served us a traditional Umu feast of Taro, Taro leaves cooked in coconut milk, breadfruit, fish, chicken and fresh coconut juice. The meal was served on plates woven from coconut leaves. I can’t say the meal was delicious, but it was wonderful to share in this traditional meal. Apparently, the meal takes the better part of 2 days to prepare.
Back on Tutuila Island, we experienced some more of the Samoan culture by attending a catholic mass on White Sunday. White Sunday occurs annually, on the second Sunday of October and is recognized throughout the Samoan communities and parishes. Samoans celebrate their children all over the world on white Sunday. We felt very fortunate to be in American Samoa at this time. It was truly a joyous occasion. All the children and many adults were dressed in white. The children led the service and the singing. Outside the church, we saw a tomb inscribed with Sunrise and Sunset dates instead of Born and Died. I thought that was such a special way to show respect to the person.
Later that afternoon, we took a hike up Blunts Point Trail which is not officially part of the National Park, but apparently is maintained by the Park Service. It was an interesting hike, with the reward of a beautiful view of the coast at the top. There was a World War II naval gun at the top as well, but it was covered in graffiti as were some of the ruins along the trail. The trail itself was also not well maintained and was a mess with trash …. a big disappointment. We did see some interesting wildlife, however…. several different types of skinks, a type of lizard. Later that afternoon, we did some outrigger canoeing with a guide.
On our 4th day in American Samoa, we drove back to the Pago Pago airport to board a small Viking DHC3-300 twin prop plane for a 30 minute flight to Ta’u Island, one of the outlying Manu’a Islands. We met Keith, our local guide who took us on a driving tour of Ta’u including a short hike in the National Park. We hiked along the coast on the Su’i Point Trail to the Saua site, believed to be the birthplace of all Polynesia. We saw a tomb that was built to house bones that were excavated in the area during modern times.
Keith then drove us to his home village of Faleasao for a lunch prepared by his mother in their family residence. We never met Keith’s mom, but enjoyed her tuna sandwiches, strawberry and regular papayas, chicken-flavored chips and a dessert made with rice, coconut and chocolate. Keith had also picked fresh coconuts, had them chilled on ice and then opened each one with a machete- can’t get fresher coconut juice than that!! During lunch, Keith shared more about his life and the Samoan way of life and his plans to renovate an abandoned family residence next door into an Airbnb. After lunch, we boarded water taxis (with no life vests) for a 2 hour ride to Ofu/Olosega islands.
The ride over the Ofu Island was long and rough but SO worth it. We really felt we had arrived in a remote paradise!
We disembarked our water taxis and loaded into pick-up trucks for a short ride to our home for the next 3 nights; Vaoto Lodge
https://www.vaotolodge.com/index.html.
While not luxurious, it was a wonderful place with gracious hosts who cooked all our meals and served them family style. Our group of 12 filled the lodge to capacity! The lodge was right next door to the airport but we didn’t need to worry about air traffic- only about 2 flights a week!
Our first full day on Ofu was spectacular. We went snorkeling in the morning in the most gorgeous coral reefs I’ve ever seen!! The coral started right at the beachhead and at times was barely deep enough to swim over top of. We were guided by the National Park Ranger who was trying to get us all going during high tide- I saw why!! I saw so many beautiful fish, corals, giant clams, a sting ray and a reef shark. I could have snorkeled all day!!
Later that same day, we drove over to Olosega Island and hiked along the Oge Beach Trail. We climbed this fairly steep trail and then went down an even steeper and rougher trail to the beach, guided by our National Park Ranger. The coastal views from both vantage points were gorgeous.
A few other things we saw or experienced during our visit to Ofu/Olosega Islands are worth noting in photographs. Pandandus leaves are important to the Samoan people for weaving into fine mats and baskets. Coconut crabs are a local delicacy and we were fortunate enough to be able to sample some. Our National Park Ranger was a wonderful resource and guide to us during our stay; not only leading hikes and snorkeling, but demonstrating how the local resources are used for food, clothing, and ceremony.
We didn’t want to leave Ofu, so we took every opportunity to hike along the beach and enjoy the sunsets. We flew back to Tutuila: glad that we didn’t have to brave another long water taxi ride. We explored Tutuila a bit more and then packed for our trip to Hawaii. At least we weren’t going home yet!!
Visiting American Samoa was an amazing experience. I enjoyed every aspect of the visit, but truly found To’aga Beach on Ofu Island to be the biggest highlight. That is now the beach to beat in our future travels!! Another big highlight was immersing ourselves in the Samoan culture; it is wonderful that the National Park Service is preserving this.