About Falefa Falls
Falefa Falls was another swimming hole type waterfall, which promised to offer relief from the stifling humidity of Samoa.
I’ve noticed in the literature that it was possible to view this waterfall for free from a side road (which we didn’t do).
That said, we paid to have access to a more frontal view of the falls (as shown above) as well as the chance to swim up to the falls itself.
Speaking of the falls, I’m guessing that it was on the order of about 10-15m so it had a modest size.
However, the lush garden area leading down to the banks of the river as well as the scurrying crabs around the lookout area added a little more interest to this place.
The road bridge above the Falefa Falls along with the surrounding trees and tropical bush further added to the scenic allure of our photos of the falls.
Experiencing Falefa Falls
After paying 5 tala per person to the local watching over the car park, we then descended a couple of different paths going through a lush garden.
One path went by a lawn area before going past a memorial then ultimately descending through a garden to a ledge adjacent to the river with a distant view of the falls.
A separate parallel path went straight down through the garden eventually joining up with the same ledge by the river though it put us closer to an idyllic picnic fale slightly further downstream.
As far as the lookout was concerned, this was where we saw crabs sensing the vibrations of our steps.
They scurried into the water or into cracks in the rocks or concrete as soon as they sensed us approaching.
The view of the Falefa Falls was a bit distant so it appeared smaller than I’d imagine it would be had we swam up to it.
Looking further downstream, we could see the ocean in the distance so I’d imagine there might be the possibility of a mix of saltwater with freshwater in high tide.
Overall, we spent a little over a half-hour away from the car, and that included all the time we spent taking pictures.
However, I can easily envision taking more time here had we chosen to swim and linger here a bit longer.
Authorities
Falefa Falls resides in the Atua District near Apia on ‘Upolu Island, Samoa. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try the MNRE website.
There were many ways to arrive at the Falefa Falls on Upolu Island, and how you get there depends on where you’re coming from.
If you’re on the South Coast of ‘Upolu, then the easiest frame of reference I can think of is the Sopoaga Falls, which is just under 17km to the south of Falefa Falls.
For directions on getting to Sopoaga Falls, see that page’s driving directions section.
We’ll describe the driving approach from Apia on this page.
So from the junction of Beach Rd and Cross-Island Road in Apia, we headed east on Beach Rd before keeping right onto Matautu St after 400m.
We then followed Matautu St, which became Main East Coast Rd, for 25km.
This road eventually became Richardson Rd, where we then continued another 300m to the signed car park for Falefa Falls on our left.
Overall, this drive took us a little over a half-hour.
Finally, for a little local context, the town of Apia was about 23km (over 30 minutes drive) north of Maninoa (South Coast), about 50km (over an hour drive) northwest of Matatufu (Southeast Coast), about 62km (under 90 minutes drive) northwest of Lalomanu, and 41km (under an hour drive) east of Mulifanua (Northwest Coast).
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Downstream to upstream sweep of the stream responsible for Falefa Falls eventually ending at the falls itself
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