Teams of canoe racers fill Papeete harbor during the annual festival, celebrating music and dance in addition to sports.
VISITOR INFO: www.tahiti-tourisme.com. WHEN: Jun–Jul. WHERE TO STAY: Located in the center of town, the modern Hotel Tahiti Nui is a convenient choice. Tel 689/463-899; www.hoteltahitinui.com. Cost: from $215. PAUL GAUGUIN CRUISES: Tel in the U.S., 800-848-6172 or 425-440-6171; www.pgcruises.com. Cost: 7-night cruise from $3,997.
Wading with Baby Sharks
RANGIROA
Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia
The world’s second largest atoll, Rangiroa has been called “God’s aquarium,” and is a favorite of divers and snorkelers. Swimmers love its placid, breeze-brushed waters, while sun worshipers head for its gorgeous pink-hued beaches. Unlike Tahiti, Moorea, Bora-Bora, and the other Society Islands, Rangiroa is pancake flat. Here the attractions are on and under the water, and they are astonishing.
Tops among these are exhilarating dives in the rushing rip currents of Avatoru and Tiputa passes, the only deep-water entries into the vast lagoon. Considered the best dive sites in French Polynesia, they are famous as a gathering place for hammerhead sharks from December to March and large manta rays from July to October. Gray-tip, black-tip, and other species of shark can be seen year-round. For dolphins it is a playground, a place to soar, dive, and frolic. This profusion of aquatic life is the reason divers in-the-know come here from all over the world to “shoot the pass.”
Nondivers can have their own shark encounters on day trips to the Blue Lagoon, located in the outer reef. The water is too shallow for boats to drop anchor, so passengers must wade ashore for about 50 yards to the alluring white beach—often through a school of baby black-tip reef sharks. Well-fed from picnic leftovers, the little creatures may appear menacing but are harmless to humans.
If and when it reopens after an ongoing renovation, the Hotel Kia Ora could once again offer a dose of great style and comfort, especially in its ten luxury overwater bungalows. In the meantime, visitors can stay at the lagoonside Le Maitai Rangiroa, which has 38 guest bungalows, including some built over the water, or the Tevahine Dream, with three thatched bungalows directly on the beach. The two exceptional, hands-on hosts care for you like family and impress with their talents in the kitchen as well.
WHERE: 218 miles/351 km northeast of Papeete, Tahiti. HOTEL KIA ORA: Tel 689/960-222; www.hotelkiaora.com. LE MAITAI RANGIROA: Tel 689/931-350; www.pacific beachcomber.com. Cost: from $225. TEVAHINE DREAM: Tel 689/931-275; www.tevahinedream.com. Cost: bungalows $315, inclusive. BEST TIMES: May–Oct for good weather; Dec–Mar for diving.
Some of the Richest Marine Life on the Planet
PALAU
Palau
Stretching 400 miles along the far western Pacific, Palau consists of 343 islands (only eight are inhabited), most surrounded by a giant, spellbinding lagoon that many cognoscenti say offers the best diving in the world. The reason is location, location, location. The meeting place of three major ocean currents, these warm, nutrient-rich waters support more than 1,300 species of fish and four times the number of coral species found in the Caribbean. The Ngemelis Drop-off, a Technicolor reef beginning at 2 feet and plummeting vertically to more than 1,000 feet, is widely considered the world’s best, while Blue Corner is legendary for the sheer abundance, variety, and size of its fish life, including schooling gray reef and white-tip sharks. More than 50 World War II shipwrecks (the remains of an aircraft carrier attack), rare and exotic marine species, and visibility that can exceed 200 feet add to divers’ wonderment.
And there’s more. Sprouting like emerald mushrooms along a 20-mile swath of transparent waters, the 200 Rock Islands are limestone outcrops covered with palms and dense jungle growth, making them home to cockatoos, parrots, kingfishers, and reef herons. A few of the islands have inland waters, such as Jellyfish Lake, where you can swim with millions of the diaphanous, nonstinging invertebrates. Others are rimmed with white sand beaches, and the calm lagoon is especially appealing to kayakers.
The country’s best hotel is the six-story Palau Pacific Resort, just 10 minutes’ drive from the ramshackle capital of Koror and offering some of the island’s best snorkeling just feet from its chaise longues. An hour’s boat ride away, the rustic but newly renovated beach cottages at Carp Island Resort are a favorite of young divers from all over the world, who appreciate its proximity to the dive sites.
Divers can examine the sea fans that make up Palau’s Peleliu Wall.
WHERE: 800 miles/1,300 km southwest of Guam. HOW: Sam’s Tours runs various dive and eco-adventure trips. Tel 680/488-5003; www.samstours.com. Cost: 7-night hotel-and-dive packages from $1,065. PALAU PACIFIC RESORT: Tel 680/488-2600; www.palauppr.com. Cost: from $280. CARP ISLAND RESORT: Tel 680/488-2978; www.carpislandpalau.com. Cost: from $85. BEST TIME: Nov–Apr is dry season with best underwater visibility.
Celebrating Stone Age Culture
THE HIGHLANDS SING-SING FESTIVALS
Papua New Guinea
Few places in the world fascinate anthropologists more than Papua New Guinea. Occupying the eastern half of the world’s second largest island, “PNG” is known for its warm seas rich with marine life and sunken World War II ships. On land is a vast array of flora and fauna, including 762 species of birds (with over 400 unique to the island), the world’s greatest variety of orchids, and more than 400 species of butterflies.
But it’s the people of PNG who draw the curious. Living in steep valleys masked by mountains rising as high as 14,000 feet and first seen by Westerners in 1933, the highlands are home to hundreds of tribal groups, whose subsistence lifestyles have changed little since the Stone Age. They speak more than 750 distinct languages and are known for their highly unusual artwork.
In the Tari Basin, a picturesque valley in the Southern Highlands, you’ll find the Huli people, who insert wild boar tusks through their pierced noses, paint their faces with bright primary colors, and wear ornate wigs made from human hair and translucent plumes plucked from Tari’s 13 species of birds of paradise. You can easily visit the Hulis if you stay at the modern Ambua Lodge, which commands a splendid view of the basin from its 7,000-foot location. It is also said to be the finest place anywhere to spot birds of paradise.
Come during a “sing-sing,” or cultural show, when drums thunder and hundreds of Huli adorned with lavish face and body paint as well as elaborate headdresses stomp and chant in friendly intertribal competition. The sing-sings began in the 1960s as a government effort to halt centuries-old tribal rivalry and warfare. The largest today is the Mount Hagen Sing-Sing, during which nearly 80 tribes come from all parts to “mock fight” on a soccer field in the Western Highlands trading town while some 500 tourists watch. At the much more intimate Tumbuna Sing-Sing, about 250 locals participate and only 60 tourist tickets are sold. It’s held on a hilltop clearing near Rondon Ridge, a luxury eco-lodge 30 minutes from Mount Hagen. Although the shows have inevitably become more commercial since their early days, there’s still nothing like them anywhere.
Local tribes come to celebrate their culture at the Mount Hagen Sing-Sing.
WHERE: Mt. Hagen is 320 miles/514 km northwest of the capital city, Port Moresby. VISITOR INFO: www.pngtourism.org.pg. HOW: U.S.-based Asia Transpacific Journeys offers tours that coincide with the sing-sings. Tel 800-642-2742 or 303-443-6789; www.asiatranspacific.com. Cost: 14-night land packages from $8,595. Originate in Port Moresby. AMBUA LODGE/RONDON RIDGE: Tel 675/542-1438; www.pngtours.com. Cost: $510 per person, all-inclusive. WHEN: May for Tumbuna Sing-Sing; Aug for Mount Hagen Sing-Sing. BEST TIME: Apr–Oct is cooler and drier.
A Mysterious River, Tribal Art, and Birds Galore
SEPIK RIVER
Papua New Guinea
Winding across a vast delta before ending 685 miles from its headwaters in the soaring highlands, the Sepik River was once the domain of anthropologists, naturalists, and adventure seekers. Today, an expedition up this mysterious river is for anyone wanting to e
xplore one of the world’s last unspoiled reservoirs of nature, culture, and—most especially—tribal art.
Some native peoples here have only just emerged from isolation, and their customs and crafts are so unique that many collectors consider this region to be one of the world’s best sources of primitive art. Unlike the members of Papua New Guinea’s highland tribes, who express themselves in face and body painting (see previous page), the Sepik peoples do so through their wood carving. Their tambaran spirit houses, embellished with intricate posts and gables, are living museums of their past.
The Sepik Basin is included in most organized tours of Papua New Guinea, which are the only feasible ways to visit this remote region of few roads and limited air service. Most book you on the nine-cabin MV Sepik Spirit, a shallow-draft vessel that takes you on a trip along the river before depositing you at the Karawari Lodge, a handsomely rustic inn on a ridge overlooking the jungle-clad Karawari River, a tributary of the Sepik.
Karawari Lodge sits in the middle of Arambak country, one of the most unspoiled parts of the country. Dugout canoe is still the favored means of transportation for the local people, but the lodge’s canopied motor launch transports guests to nearby villages, where you can see firsthand the collision of ancient and modern cultures. The bird-watching alone makes a late-afternoon boat ride unforgettable: Cormorants, cockatoos, hornbills, kingfishers, and parrots are regularly sighted on the quiet waterway. Birds of paradise are an elusive plus.
Sacred objects and carvings can be found within tambaran spirit houses.
WHERE: The town of Timbunke is 444 miles/715 km northwest of Port Moresby. HOW: U.S.-based Asia Transpacific Journeys offers customized trips. Tel 800-642-2742 or 303-443-6789; www.asiatranspacific.com. MV SEPIK SPIRIT: Tel 675/542-1438; www.pngtours.com. 3-night cruises between Timbunke and Karawari, both accessible by air only. Cost: $2,342, all-inclusive. KARAWARI LODGE: Tel 675/542-1438; www.pngtours.com. Cost: $510 per person, all-inclusive. BEST TIME: Jul–Nov is cooler and drier.
Lava Fields and a Cultural Storehouse
SAVAI’I
Samoa
Few easily accessible places in Polynesia have preserved their ways as Samoa has, and this is especially true of the island of Savai‘i. While Western civilization has made its impact on Upolu, the country’s main island, fa‘a Samoa—the old way of life—is still very much alive on Savai‘i. Just 8 miles across the scenic Apolima Straits from Upolu, this virtual storehouse of Samoan culture known as the “soul of Samoa” is home to a people who put great emphasis on extended family, ancient customs, and religion. Its traditional villages are made up of fales (oval houses) that appear much as they did centuries ago, except that the thatched roofs have been replaced with tin ones.
The basic, no-frills Safua Hotel still offers the best exposure to fa‘a Samoa. A local women’s rights and community leader, owner Vaasili Moelagi Jackson makes sure her guests have a chance to participate in village life as well as enjoy what other attractions Savai‘i has to offer, including its many natural wonders. Beautiful, empty beaches are punctuated by lava blowholes, where, during high tide and in rough weather, columns of water can shoot up to 100 feet high. A hike inland reveals the Afu Aau waterfalls, surrounded by dense rain forest, and the 46-foot-high, pyramid-shaped Pulemelei Mound, the largest and most mysterious archaeological ruin in Polynesia.
You’ll also see Matavanu, which is what’s known as a shield volcano. Created almost entirely of fluid lava flows, it features a large, low profile that resembles a warrior’s shield. It is dotted with more than 400 craters, and its last eruption, which lasted for 4 years and ended in 1911, deposited large lava fields across the northern side of the island.
It’s here that you’ll find some of Samoa’s best beaches, including the one near Mansae village, a long stretch of white sand with a clutch of beach fales. Most offer an experience that’s akin to camping out, but at Vacations Beach Fales you’ll find several with air-conditioning. Nearby Le Lagoto Beach Resort offers the most comfortable accommodation on the island—12 modern but traditionally styled fales and a gorgeous infinity pool. “Lagoto” means sunset, and after a massage at the lovely Bodyworks spa, this is where you’ll want to be to drink it in.
Traditional Samoan life thrives on Savai‘i.
WHERE: 8 miles/13 km west of Upolu. VISITOR INFO: www.samoa.travel. SAFUA HOTEL: Tel 685/51-271. Cost: from $50. VACATIONS BEACH FALES: Tel 685/54-001; www.vacationsbeachfales.com. Cost: from $80, inclusive. LE LAGOTO BEACH RESORT: Tel 685/58-189; www.lelagoto.ws. Cost: from $95. BEST TIME: May–Sep for pleasant weather.
Telling Tales in Samoa
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON MUSEUM
Apia, Upolu, Samoa
The South Pacific islands have attracted plenty of writers, but none cherished them more than Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, who arrived in Samoa in 1889 in search of a climate that would help ease the symptoms of his tuberculosis. Stevenson and his wife, Fanny Osbourne, bought 314 acres on the lush slopes of Mount Vaea above Apia, Samoa’s sleepy but picturesque capital city, where they built a Western-style mansion and called it Vailima (Five Waters). Now home to the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, it has been restored to look as it did when he died on its back porch in 1894, most likely of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Great storytellers in their own right, the Samoans called Stevenson Tusitala, “Teller of Tales.” When he died they hacked a winding Road of Loving Hearts to his grave high on Mount Vaea, which overlooks his home and the mountains and sea that had so captivated him. The obligatory pilgrimage here is a challenging but rewarding half-hour climb, offering one of the loveliest vistas in the South Pacific. You’ll also find here the poignant epitaph Stevenson penned for himself:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
Another literary light, James A. Michener, came to Samoa during World War II (he was also stationed in Vanuatu; see p. 698), whereupon he took notice of Aggie Grey, a clever Samoan woman who sold hamburgers and hot dogs to the U.S. Marines training on Upolu. Michener used Aggie as inspiration for the Tonkinese character Bloody Mary in his novel Tales of the South Pacific. Aggie went on to found Aggie Grey’s Hotel & Bungalows, which still reigns as downtown Apia’s leading inn, one of the most famous in the South Pacific. Come by for a cold Vailima beer—or perhaps a Bloody Mary—and don’t miss Wednesday night’s fiafia evening of Samoan entertainment and a sumptuous buffet. Aggie herself would often dance the graceful Samoan siva at these weekly events, a ritual now maintained by her granddaughter, also named Aggie. After the original Aggie’s death in 1988, her family built the sprawling Aggie Grey’s Lagoon, Beach Resort & Spa, on Upolu’s west coast, where it is surrounded by the sea and an 18-hole golf course. Its fiafia nights take place Thursdays.
Samoa became the adopted home of Scotsman and Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson.
VISITOR INFO: www.samoa.travel. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON MUSEUM: Tel 685/20-798; www.rlsmuseum.com. AGGIE GREY’S HOTEL & BUNGALOWS: Tel 685/22-880; www.aggiegreys.com. Cost: from $130. AGGIE GREY’S LAGOON, BEACH RESORT & SPA: Tel 685/45-611; www.aggiegreys.com. Cost: from $190. BEST TIMES: May–Sep for good weather; 1st week of Jun for Independence Day celebrations; 1st week of Sep for Teuila Festival, Samoa’s top event, with boat races, dance, and music.
Whale-Watching, Kayaking, and Sailing in the South Pacific
VAVA’U
Kingdom of Tonga
You can see humpback whales off many tropical islands, but few places will allow you to get as close as the Kingdom of Tonga’s enchanting Vava‘u island group, where you can swim and snorkel with the mighty beasts almost as if you were one of them. The whales appear off Vava‘u between July and November, making the 5,000-mile journey up from Antarctica to mate and bear their young. The females can weigh up to 44 tons, and the babies at birth can weigh as much as 2 tons and measure 5 feet long. To watch the interaction of the
two is both exhilarating and touching.
Among the swim-and-snorkel tour operators, the best is Whale Watch Vava‘u, which pioneered the day trips. Their two custom-built boats don’t promise daily swims: You may only enter the water if the seas are calm and the conditions are safe. But even if you can’t join the whales, you can listen. Male humpbacks are particularly vocal; their haunting melodies can be heard through the boats’ hydrophones.
Whale-watching is not all Vava‘u offers. With some 50 reef-encircled islands separated by narrow waterways and protected within a large, emerald lagoon, it is also one of the top destinations for kayaking and yachting in the South Pacific. On guided kayak trips, you’ll visit hidden marine caves and secret beaches, where you may encounter sea turtles, porpoises, and numerous seabirds, such as the white-tailed tropic bird, lesser frigate, brown boobie, and crimson-crowned fruit dove.
Guides will also introduce you to the local Polynesian culture in the small outer-island villages. Here you can experience the traditional umu feast, in which a suckling pig steamed in a covered pit is consumed to the accompaniment of Tongan song and dance. The uninhabited islands you’ll visit are ideal spots for beachside barbecues or pitching camp under waving palms and the Southern Cross.
Top off your stay by relaxing at Mounu Island Resort, which has four guest bungalows and a restaurant often frequented by passing yachtsmen in the know. It is set on a tiny 6.5-acre coral islet that is completely surrounded by a glorious white sand beach from which you can commonly spot whales breaching offshore.
1,000 Places to See Before You Die Page 109
