If you were to draw a line from the tip of New Zealand to Hawaii and then to the Easter Islands, you would be looking at what is known as the polynesian triangle, and somewhere within this combined group of more than 1,000 islands lies the tiny Independent Nation of Samoa, a culture lover’s paradise of tropical palm trees, pristine beaches from tourism and people of all ages doing nothing but smile.
Many people I meet have never even heard of the small islands of Samoa, and those who have usually associate them with incredibly powerful rugby strikers or wrestling giants of the WWF, namely Dwayne Johnson, aka ‘The Rock’.
Samoa is a place that has produced some of the most naturally powerful men on this planet since the Greek gods of Olympus, and yet it still offers so much more, all of which are guaranteed to satisfy your need for visual delights. One of the things I find most attractive about this little-known South Pacific destination is how well it has preserved its cultural identity.
Unlike some of the better known Polynesian destinations like Hawaii, Fiji and Tahiti, where westernism and raucous tourism is all that remains of traditional customs; Samoa still lives and breathes an ancient culture. It is the only Polynesian country where the government recognizes the ancient tribal customs imposed by the matai (bosses) as part of modern law, and amazingly manages to keep the two systems working together, side by side.
If it weren’t for the golden arches of MacDonald’s looming over the capital of Apia, one would be forgiven for thinking that they are walking through the set of Rogers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, with much of Apia remaining as it was in the 1930s. .
The clapboard building where Robert Louis Stevenson once lived still stands, although today it houses a charming bar and restaurant. The locals go about their business in their traditionally laid-back ‘poly style’ synonymous with the tropics, and smiling barefoot children shoo away flies from their parents’ market stalls with traditional fans while drinking fresh coconut milk.
Leave the main town and you will drive through one town after another where the locals will enjoy a game of volleyball and invite you to play. You will see the local chiefs watching over the village with their tribes tattoo (tattoo) peeking out of the top of their lava lava (sarong) believing the extent of her bravery when the tattoo was first carved from the waist to the knee. The children will swing from the branches of the mango and breadfruit trees, pick up tonight’s dinner, and step into their open air. failures (houses) you’ll occasionally see a side-by-side refrigerator and a big-screen TV just to remind you that modern society doesn’t completely forget them or ignore their comforts.
Samoa offers the traveler who is hungry for a real cultural experience, free from crowded beaches and annoying tour operators, the chance to visit and even participate in a world where ancient culture is still in play and unadulterated natural beauty abounds. Visit Samoa and you’ll be planning your next visit before you even leave its idyllic shores.
