Samoa's waterfalls, and how we had them all to ourselves

We came to Samoa expecting a calm island and not much action, and spent a day
chasing waterfalls we could not believe were empty. Upolu, the main island, is
stacked with them. Papapapait'ai drops in a single ribbon into a deep green
gorge, and we had the entire viewpoint to ourselves, paying a small fee to the
family living nearby who keep an eye on it. Sopo'aga and Fuipisia, both tall
and dramatic, were the same story: big views, no crowds. At little Togitogiga I
climbed up and backflipped into the pool, because there was nobody there to
tell me not to.

The one everybody has seen is To-Sua Ocean Trench, a deep swimming hole sunk
into the rock that you climb down into on a steep wooden ladder, the water
glowing turquoise below. That one we shared with tens of locals escaping the
midday heat – less a crowd than a village cooling off.

Any country would build a national park around water like this and charge a
fortune for it. In Samoa it sits by the road, lightly signed, watched over by
whoever lives nearby, and most of the time it is simply yours. We drove the
coast road back at golden hour, past one painted village after another,
half-wondering why the place was not full of people. We ate that night at the
Aga Reef Resort, newly built and nearly empty, and finished at Lalomanu beach,
where open fales line the sand, before the clouds rolled in and turned us back.

Go for the water, and go before the rest of the world catches on.