If I Were Going...: Our First Two Days in American Samoa

White-naped Bat: an unplanned activity turned out to be the best of the day

Because we arrived two days early, I arranged with OTBP for activities to occupy our mornings before the tour started.

The first day, we were supposed to go snorkeling, but after Lou picked us up and started driving we inquired about the wind and waves.

Crazy surf

He told us he didn’t think it would be safe to snorkel (take a look). Interesting that he didn’t mention that before pulling out. We asked to go back and change out of our swimsuits and to flip over to birding the first morning.

When we regrouped, Lou told us that he was not actually a birding guide, but he would do his best. He said he had led a birding group a few months ago and learned a lot from them.

Pacific Imperial Pigeon

But, I am used to professional birding guides who carry good binoculars and scopes (Lou borrowed my binoculars, meaning I didn’t have access to them), can recognize birds by sight, song and flight (Lou knew some, but not all) and know where to find specific birds.

Now, Lou ended finding us a lot of birds and we had a great day seeing the island and birding as we went, but OTBP should never have billed him as a birding guide.

Samoan Starling

Also, we had to tell Lou that it was OK to take us places that our main tour would go later (he seemed concerned that our main guide, who was his boss, would be upset if he were scooped).

It's a small island; where else could we go?

Now, that’s another weird twist. Shortly before we left, we got final documents that listed Patricia Su’esu’e as our guide (as did the evaluation form we got after we returned home). Lou kept talking about Peter, as if we knew who Peter was, implying that he was our guide.

When we met our guides two days later, Peter Taliva’a was, indeed, our main guide and Patricia was assisting him.

Peter and Patricia: who was the guide?

Plus, Lou was allegedly our driver, but when Peter joined us, he did the driving.

Caty and I think we figured it out: Peter owns the local tour company and leads multiple tours with OTBP and other companies. Patricia and Lou work for Peter. Based on what we observed, Peter may have originally assigned Patricia to lead us, but then decided she wasn’t ready yet. She was lovely, but was not knowledgeable enough to guide, so that was a good call.

Plus, Peter seemed very hands on, thus the driving situation.

Our van was nice and comfy

They were all lovely and helpful. But it does peeve me a bit when tours tell you that you will have one guide and one driver and then they throw in another guide. That means either splitting the tips you planned or tipping more than you planned to. Neither is ideal.

It took awhile to sort all this out.

And, Peter was definitely in charge

But, at this point, we had met only Lou, who was charming and fun and gave us good insight into Samoan culture, even though he didn’t have tour guide-level expertise and he didn’t seem to have all the details on what we had signed up for.

He showed us the sights

When the weather continued to be too windy and the water too rough on our second day with Lou, we were still not able to snorkel.

So, we just did more birding and exploring

I am just going to cover what we saw and did together rather than give two separate daily descriptions.

We started strong, heading up the mountain to an overlook above Pago Pago Harbor with hopes that Lou could satisfy our first request: Find us some bats.

He did!

Lou didn’t explain that the overlook was the historic Aerial Tramway Site & Lookout, located on the slopes of Mount ʻAlava.

Historic tram photos: American Samoa Through Years

We found that out later from Peter. We just knew there were some odd towers and platforms (remains of a U.S. Navy aerial tramway that spanned the harbor and was infamously struck by a Navy plane in 1980) and a huge tree filled with Bats.

The Bat tree

At first, we thought, because it was mid-morning, the Bats would just sleep ...

But, then we saw some flying in and out; So cool!

About White-naped Bats

Known scientifically as Pteropus Tonganus or the Tongan Fruit Bat, White-naped bats are large Flying Foxes distinguished by a creamy-yellow or pale band around their neck and shoulders.

It's really more golden than white

They are found across the South Pacific, spanning from Papua New Guinea through Fiji and the Samoan Archipelago down to the Cook Islands.

And, we saw quite a few

They feed on nectar, pollen and fruit juices, playing an important role as plant pollinators.

They are active during both day and night

They roost in large colonial groups called camps

A second species, Pteropus Samoensis, commonly known as the Samoan Fruit Bat, is found only in the Samoan Archipelago and Fiji. Although it once existed in Tonga, it is now extinct there.

But, they are doing fine in American Samoa

Despite overlapping in size (adults weighing up to 1.3 lbs.), the two species can be distinguished from a distance based on their flight and silhouette: the Samoa has a triangular shape with scalloped, opaque wings. Its flight is relaxed, with slower wing beats and a tendency to soar on rising warm air currents during the day.

Samoa Fruit Bat; Right: iNaturalist

The White-naped, by contrast, appears more cross-like, with narrower wings and more pronounced neck and head. It has faster wing beats, shallower strokes and tends to fly in a direct path at dawn or dusk.

In flight

As I said, we think we saw only White-naped Bats, which form large roosting colonies during the day, with groups ranging from hundreds to thousands of bats.

We saw tens of Bats, as opposed to thousands

These colonies are typically organized by reproductive status, with bachelor males, clusters of females defended by a male (suggesting a harem mating system) or groups of females with young. Individuals tend to be faithful to their roosts, returning to their colonies after foraging. Watch some flying ...

In contrast, the Samoa Fruit Bat roosts singly or in pairs. Males typically roost on exposed or dead branches on ridge tops, while females roost in more covered positions on forest slopes. This behavior suggests a monogamous mating system. Both species demonstrate remarkable care for their young, with mothers often carrying their babies in flight. With all the bats we saw, we didn’t see any babies.

Just adults!

While these guys are big, I discovered that the Giant Golden-crowned Flying Fox, also known as the Golden-capped Fruit Bat, of the Philippines is twice as big.

Giant Golden-crowned Flying Fox; Illustration: Dimensions

Still, a Bat the size of a small Fox is pretty amazing

By the way, Caty figured out what Bats we were seeing.

I am not sure if our guides even knew there were two species

National Park and Island Sights

Now, back to our two days with Lou. Even though he hesitated at first, Lou took us to the National Park of American Samoa …

Caty at our first NPAS sign; It's what we came for!

… and to the Park Visitor Center in town (the one that had to be rebuilt after the tsunami). So, my official 63rd National Park date is June 11, although my National Park completion ceremony wasn’t until June 18.

Visitor Center

The Park preserves and protects coral reefs, tropical rainforests, wildlife and the Samoan culture.

Water, forest and wildlife (in this case, a Samoan Starling)

Of the Park's 8,257 acres, almost a third is coral reefs and ocean

The 2,500-acre Tutuila unit of the Park is on the north end of the island near Pago Pago. It is separated by Mount ʻAlava and the Maugaloa Ridge and includes the Amalau Valley, Craggy Point, Tāfeu Cove and the islands of Pola and Manofā.

This unit also encompasses 1,200 acres of offshore waters

The only part of the Park accessible by car, the Tutuila unit attracts the majority of visitors. It features a trail to the top of Mount ʻAlava and historic World War II gun emplacement sites at Breakers Point and Blunts Point. The trail runs along the ridge in dense forest, north of which the land slopes steeply away to the ocean.

The forest is dense and damp. We saw a few other people while birding along the road in the Park, but it certainly is not crowded.

Road birding

The two days did yield a good crop of birds, including some I had seen before, including lots of Red Junglefowls (basically, chickens!) that I didn’t photograph and far-off White-tailed Tropicbirds soaring around the cliffs.

They were ever-present on the high slopes

But, better still, I picked up six lifers in the Park on Tutuila, of which I got photographs of four ...

Pacific Imperial-Pigeon

Pacific Kingfisher (adult)

Pacific Kingfisher (juvenile)

Samoan Starling

Eastern Wattled-Honeyeater

The last three were the most common, especially on Ofu. But, that’s for later.

We also briefly saw a female Many-colored Fruit-Dove, which I wasn’t able to photograph until our last day on the island, and tons of White-rumped Swiftlets, which, like all Swallow and Swifts, were impossible to photograph.

Caty got one!

One of our stops was an overlook where we could see Pola island, a basalt sea stack with dramatic volcanic sea cliffs rising up to 420 feet out of the ocean.

Pola Island

Also known as Cockscomb, Pola is located on the west side of Vatia Bay and is one of American Samoa's primary seabird nesting sites. Unfortunately, without a scope, we couldn’t really see any birds well enough to identify them.

Two other views from above

The island is directly linked to a legend about the village of Vatia's creation. A couple, both of whom were named Pola, sailed westward from the Manu'a Islands with their daughter, Faleofia, with hopes of reaching Upolu Island in what is now Samoa. A few days later, rough seas sunk their raft and they mutated into rocks. The rock forms are named after the parents: Pola'uta is the name of the ridge on Tutuila side (uta means "closer to land") and Pola Tai is the island (tai "further from land”).

We couldn't see this view; Photo: Wikipedia

Pola Tai is separated from land by the 250-foot-wide Vai'ava Strait. We heard boats sometimes go through the strait, but it takes skill, luck and a certain amount of insanity. There is no access to Pola Island itself.

In addition to exploring the National Park, we spent a lot of time exploring the beaches ...

Beautiful

... and admiring the dramatic waves that were keeping us from snorkeling ...

We photographed Camel Rock, which looks like a resting Camel.

Camel Rock, wide view

I was curious about the name because, obviously, ancient Samoans had never seen a Camel. Of course, the name came from early European sailors and missionaries.

Camel Rock, closer view

Another site is a pair of iconic, tree-covered offshore rocky islets near the entrance of Pago Pago Harbor by the village of Fatumafuti. The lush cap of vegetation on top makes them look like plants growing inside giant flowerpots, hence the common name, Flowerpot Rock. They are known locally as Fatu and Futi.

Fatu

According to folklore, Fatu and Futi are legendary figures turned to stone, tied to classic tales of forbidden love and ancient history (pretty much like all the trolls in Iceland that turned into stone).

Futi

While admiring the rocks, I caught a glimpse of another lifer, a Pacific Reef-Heron, as it flew rapidly across the horizon. Luckily I saw two more in the same general area later and got some photos after missing them this time.

Sneak peek: Pacific Reef-Heron

We spent some time at the Turtle and the Shark blowhole, much further southwest on Tutuila in the village of Vaitogi. Twice I videoed it for-ev-er, only to have it spout as soon as I gave up and turned off my camera. The surf was so rough, we couldn’t even walk on the observation pier, which was covered in water and being hit frequently by rogue waves. I was a little uncomfortable even getting near the edge of the lava cliff where the blowhole sits. See it here ...

According to Samoan mythology, a mother and daughter living in poverty faced a severe famine and jumped off a high coastal cliff into the sea. Upon hitting the water, their human forms transformed – one into a Turtle and the other into a Shark. In Vaitogi, village elders maintain a cultural tradition where they sing a traditional song and a Turtle and a Shark reportedly rise to the surface of the bay.

We saw neither while there; Art: Alchetron

We did see quite a few Great Frigatebirds flying along the coast. While there, I was told they were Lesser Frigatebirds, but my research and Merlin say otherwise. I would have liked to see a Lesser, which would have been a lifer, but I am not sure if I did or not.

Great Frigatebird above the wild ocean

As we were driving around the island, we also saw – oh so briefly – a Buff-banded Rail as it scurried across the road in front of our car. We never saw another and I didn’t get a picture. That’s sad because I will probably never have another shot at it.

Fortunately, the lifer Australasian Swamphens we saw were more cooperative. Caty thought they looked like the Pūkeko she saw in New Zealand.