TOP

   Photos

National Park of American Samoa

The National Park of American Samoa, located in the South Pacific, is a very difficult place to get to but the visitor is rewarded with a beautiful and interesting park on a tropical island.

American Samoa

2018

About The Park

The Samoa Islands are part of Polynesia, a triangular area of the Pacific bounded by Hawaii, New Zealand, and Easter Island.

It is the only U.S. national park that is south of the equator, 2600 miles southwest of Hawaii.

With only 69,000 visitors it ranked 51st out of 60 national parks (2017) in number of visits. I would have thought that it would have ranked lower given the difficult trip and not insignificant expense of getting there. From the U.S. it can only be reached via twice weekly flights from Honolulu, Hawaii to Pago Pago Airport on the island of Tutuila. It is a 5 hour flight from Honolulu, Hawaii with one time zone change.

Having 69,000 visitors surprised me because prior to my trip, the only people I met in national parks who had been to American Samoa were people who, like us, had a bucket list to visit all the national parks. Typically that was their 60th and last. For us it worked out to be number 58 because we were going to Hawaii Volcanos National Park upon our return to Hawaii and we hadn’t been to the Virgin Islands National Park at that time.

The climate is tropical, 70s-90s all year round with high humidity and frequent rain. Tropical storms are more prevalent during the long, wet summer season (October to May) and a slightly cooler and drier season (June to September)

The volcanic islands of Samoa that dominate the acreage of the national park are composed of shield volcanos which developed from a hot spot on the Pacific Plate.

 

The Samoan islands have not shown evidence of volcanism for many years, the Samoan hotspot beneath the islands continues to give indications of activity, with a submarine eruption detected just east of American Samoa in 1973.

Tsunami’s seem to be a bigger threat these days.

The new park visitor center is located in Pago Pago, on the island of Tutuila, in the Pago Plaza office building and is outside of the park.

The Tutuila Unit of the national park is located on the north central part of the island north and east of Pago Pago. It covers 13,500 acres and the vast majority of the park is only reachable on foot. Mt. Alava, the highest point on the island at 1,610’, dominates the park.

About four miles down the road (route 001) from the visitor center is the turnoff for route 006 which takes you along the eastern edge of the Tutuila unit of the park. It is the only part of the park accessible by car and is where the vast majority of visitors to the area go.

Route 006 crosses into the national park, traveling up and over the mountain, along the eastern perimeter of the park to the small village of Vatia. The road is paved and in good condition and the village is opposite the beach.

In some ways it is hard to separate the national park from rest of island. The beaches and coves you see in the park look much the same as those you see driving along the coast of the island. The island is only about 20 miles long and we drove the length and breadth of it covering most of the roads until we ran out of pavement.

The scenery was beautiful, interesting and often more picturesque than the little piece of the national park that was accessible by car which is only a 5 or 6 mile stretch of road where the park meets the sea.

There are two other park units, Ofu and Ta’u, which are on other islands and can only be reached by boat or a flight on a small plane.

Wildlife

The only native mammals are bats. There’s also geckos and skinks, pacific boa and several bird species. Sea turtles and humpback whales are seen in the area.

Lodging

All of the lodging was reasonably priced. Rooms started in the $160 range.

Tradewinds Hotel

This is a very nice and reasonably priced hotel near the airport. We stayed there and it was about a 40 minute drive to town (Pago Pago). I rented my car from the hotel and, when I returned it, two employees went over the car with a fine toothed-comb and were surprised that I put over 100 miles on it. I expected that they would find something but fortunately they did not.  As of March 2022, the website said the hotel was closed as of January 20, 2021 until further notice.

Sadie Thompson Inn

This looked nice and it was located in the town of Pago Pago.

Sadie’s By The Sea

This was between the airport and town but closer to town.

There is no camping allowed on the island.

Hiking

When hiking on the island be aware of dogs. They can be aggressive and hikers get bitten by them. A good hiking stick can be of help here.

Pola Island trail

At the far end of the village of Vatia there is the Pola Island trail. It is a shaded trail that travels along the beach from where you can see rock formations with ‘windows’ in them created by the pounding waves. You can take a vehicle down it for a bit, park and then walk from there.

Tuafanua trail

The Tuafanua trail is reached on the road to Vatia village (route 6) just before you reach the village. It is a steep trail down switchbacks and rope ladders to the beach. The round trip is 2.2 miles.   

Mount Alava hiking trail

The Mount Alava hiking trail lies to the north of Pago Pago Harbor. It is along the maintenance road and leads to the 1610 foot summit; the trailhead is located at Fagasa Pass, a short drive west of Pago Pago. The hike is 6 miles round trip. The park service estimates this to be a 5-hour hike.

There is a brochure on day hikes on the NPS website (NPS website link is below)

A Very Interesting Local Custom

We noticed that, in front of many homes and in one case on the porch, there were burial crypts. We found out that people do bury their ancestors in this manner. At the visitor center we inquired about this with a local Samoan park ranger who confirmed that this is relatively common. The point was not lost on us that, if you sell your house and move, what about grandma and grandpa who are buried on your property. Being careful to not be disrespectful of this local custom we asked him about it and he explained that property rights are yours in perpetuity. Sales to strangers are not common but he did add that he was once involved in an exhumation to move the remains of someone to a new location. He even offered that it was not a pleasant task. We did see that there are cemeteries so the custom is a matter of personal preference.  You can see two examples of this in the photo gallery.

It also appears that the Samoan property rights laws were the reason that the National Parks Service was unable to buy the land for the national park. The park was established in 1988 and in 1993 a 50-year lease was signed. So, in 2043, they will have to renegotiate the lease and it is possible that the National Park of American Samoa may no longer be a United States national park.

National Park of American Samoa Photo Gallery

Other Resources

National Park of American Samoa on the National Parks Service Website - NPS.gov

National Park of American Samoa - Wikipedia

National Park of American Samoa - National-Park.com

Other National Parks and National Monuments Within a Day’s Drive

There are no national parks or monuments within a days drive. This National Park is on an island in the South Pacific, 2500 miles south of Hawaii.

 *N*P*Z*N*

       Sitemap

Updated 02/11/23 7:04 PM

National Parks Zone

  Home