Samoa is an independent country but economical strongly linked with New Zealand. Accordingly a day in 2009 the church bells rung at 12:00 am giving signal to switch driving from right to left hand side road. This way it was easier for the many Samoans living in New Zealand to import their cars to Samoa. At 2011 Samoa moved even closer to New Zealand by hopping over to the western side of the international date line. Now every date starts first in Samoa and looking towards the east is looking into yesterday. And as close by American Samoa stayed on the eastern side, hopping between the two Samoas means a day time difference.
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Tidy little towns, a lush green interior with rivers and waterfalls and some beautiful beaches, that is Upolu. But even in paradise sometimes apocalyptical events happen. In 2009 a tsunami hit the island causing many fatalities. Alone the family that runs the guesthouse I stayed lost 11 family members. Now there are tsunami shelters along the coast and just 2 days before I arrived everyone had to take their mattresses to the shelter and stay overnight as there was a tsunami warning due to an earthquake in Chile. Fortunately nothing happened.
I only wanted to have a short look at this church ruin when I jumped over the fence, but finally stayed for almost 2 hours exploring this fascinating place and taking lot of pictures.
One of the biggest islands in the pacific, Savai‘i can still be circumnavigate within a day. It‘s even quieter and less populated than it‘s sister islands. My personal highlight was the westcoast, where a sand road runs along perfect and deserted beaches. A couple of simple fales can make your personal Robinson Crusoe feeling perfect if you want.
Without doubt, some of the most amazing beach scenery I have ever seen was on the west coast in Savai´i. I was really blown away from that place. It´s not only beautiful but also remote and quiet and for a few bugs to rent a basic fale for the night the paradise can be yours.
© 2026 Beyond All Maps - Portraits of our Planet by Thorsten Mehret
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