The Hughes Zoo

The info sheet that the ship circulated for Samoa had me a little apprehensive. Lot of warnings about how to ensure you follow local customs and don’t cause offense (including not waving your hands around whilst talking… I’m doomed), plus not being sure what to expect post-tsunami. By the end of our mammoth bus and beach tour though, it was at the top of my list of favourite stops so far.

Again we had a long bus tour booked, but this time with a good chunk of time spent at a beach. We left Apia, traveled through the outer suburbs, then into more rural towns, then crossed a mountain to get to the other side of the island. The beach we ended up at was spectacular, on par with Moorea. There was a nice breeze all day which took the edge off the heat, and it was less humid that Tahiti. As a testament to how good the weather is, the traditional houses (fale - still widely used) don’t have walls, just some blinds to roll down if it gets a little bright or windy, or if you want some privacy.

The local customs warnings make a little bit more sense when you get a feel for just how seriously the locals take their culture. 75% of the land is family-owned and cannot be sold (though can be leased). Only the remaining 25% is freehold, and even then, can only be sold to Samoan citizens. 80% of the population are ‘full blooded’ Samoan, and while almost everyone is bi-lingual English is only used when necessary. They seem to have put a lot of thought into how to best keep their culture alive and it seems to be working a treat. It was very cool to witness some of it.

The inherited, fertile land results in a pretty cool attitude: you work just as much as you have to, but if you starve you’ve only got yourself to blame. That laid-back attitude make the ‘culture warnings’ seem a little over the top to me - everyone we met was incredibly polite, friendly and relaxed.

Samoa is now at the top of my list of places to re-visit - not only is it awesome, but it’s cheap. According to our tour guide Tiare, a fale right on the beach we visited is about AU$30/night/person, including meals. Plus you can  get direct flights from Sydney. Compared to $600+/night on Moorea and Bora Bora, it sounds like a pretty damn good deal to me.

Photos for the day

Tags: cruise, samoa

This entry was posted on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 6:31 pm and is filed under cruise. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.