Sopoaga Falls

About Sopoaga Falls

Rating: 3

Difficulty: 1

Hiking Distance: almost roadside

Suggested Time:

Date first visited: 2019-11-12

Date last visited: 2019-11-12

Waterfall Latitude: -14.00777

Waterfall Longitude: -171.58597

Directions: Get to the waterfall

Vicinity: Find nearby waterfalls

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Sopoaga Falls (I’ve also seen it called Sopo’aga Waterfall) was another roadside waterfall on the Samoan island of ‘Upolu.

Similar with the Papapapaitai Falls, we didn’t need to exert ourselves to experience the waterfall.

Sopoaga_Waterfall_013_11112019 - Sopoaga Falls — Sopoaga Falls

However, the lookout for Sopoaga Falls was on private land so Julie and I had to each pay 5 Tala to check it out.

From the car park (see directions below), we went into a garden path where we surrendered the payment.

We then walked to the far end of the lush garden before reaching the lookout for the 54m plunging waterfall.

Although it appeared that we could have continued walking along the rim on the right side of the gorge, we contented ourselves with the direct views.

Sopoaga_Waterfall_027_11112019 - Context of the Sopo'aga Waterfall and signage — Context of the Sopo’aga Waterfall and signage

So we can’t comment any further if there existed a way to reach the brink of Sopoaga Falls or go to an alternate view of the falls.

In any case, I doubted that this waterfall would be accessible as a swimming hole.

This pretty much was the extent of our visit, and Julie and I wrapped up our time here in 15 minutes.

Authorities

Sopoaga Falls resides in the Faipule 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.

Route to this Waterfall

There were many ways to arrive at the Sopoaga Falls on Upolu Island, and how you get there depends on where you’re coming from.

Since we drove to the well-known To-Sua Ocean Trench to get to the falls, we’ll start with that way first.

It’s pretty straightforward to route to the To-Sua Trench given that it’s well-known.

Driving from To-Sua Ocean Trench to Sopoaga Falls

From the To-Sua Ocean Trench, we drove west on the Main South Coast Road for about 6km.

Sopoaga_Waterfall_001_11112019 - Looking back from the Sopoaga Falls car park towards the entrance to the garden and the Main South Coast Road — Looking back from the Sopoaga Falls car park towards the entrance to the garden and the Main South Coast Road

The signed turnoff for the falls was on the left (just a little over 300m south of the junction between Main South Coast Rd and Le Mafa Pass Rd).

Overall, this drive took us under 10 minutes.

Driving from Apia to Sopoaga Falls

As far as getting to the Sopo’aga Falls from Apia, we could take the Cross-Island Road 22km south before driving another 24km east along the Main South Coast Rd to the signed turnoff on the right.

We also could have gone east of Apia along the Main East Coast Rd nearly 23km before heading south on Richardson Rd/Le Mafa Pass Rd (just past the village of Falepuna) for about 17km.

The turnoff for Sopoaga Falls was on the right for about 350m after Le Mafa Pass Rd junctioned with the Main South Coast Rd.

Regardless of which route we picked from Apia, the drive would take about an 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).