Samoa Travel Guide - Key Facts

South Pacific.

GMT - 11.

2,831 sq km (1,093 sq miles).

187,000 (UN estimate 2007).

66 per sq km.

Apia (Upolu Island). Population: 40,000 (UN estimate 2003).

Samoa consists of nine islands. The largest of these is Savai’i, which covers 1,610 sq km (622 sq miles); fertile Upolu, the second largest (1,120 sq km/433 sq miles), lies 13km (8 miles) to the southeast across the Apolima Strait. The islands are quiescent volcanoes and reach heights of up to 1,858m (6,097ft) on Savai’i and 1,100m (3,608ft) on Upolu. Volcanic activity has not occurred since 1911. The main city, Apia, is located in the north of Upolu.

Constitutional monarchy. Gained independence from New Zealand in 1962.

HH Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi since 2007.

Prime Minister Tuila’epa Sailele Malielegaoi since 1998.

Political parties in the normal sense did not feature in Samoan politics until the late 1970s when a group of Fono (national assembly) members in opposition to the Government created the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) which has dominated Samoan politics ever since, winning every one of the elections held since then. Since the introduction of universal suffrage in 1991, there has always been a very high turn-out (around 90%) at elections. Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi's government won the most recent general elections in April 2006 with an increased majority. King Malietoa Tanumafili II, who became head of state in 1963, died at the age of 94 in May 2007. He held the post for life but his successor will now be elected by the legislature to a five-year term. Former prime minister Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi became head of state in June 2007.

Samoan is the national language. English is used in business and commerce.

Congregational Church, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Latter Day Saints, Seventh Day Adventist and other, mainly Christian, beliefs.

240 volts AC, 50Hz (110 volts AC in some hotels). Three-pronged plugs are in use as in Australia and New Zealand.

Even more than their American Samoan neighbours, Samoans adhere to traditional moral and religious codes of behaviour. According to the government, the Samoan is the purest surviving Polynesian type, with a reputation for being upright and dignified in character.

Life in each village is still regulated by a council of chiefs with considerable financial and territorial power; this ‘extended family’ social system is intricately and unusually linked with the overall political system. Visitors should avoid walking through villages during evening prayer (usually between 1800 and 1900). Sunday is a day of peace and quiet, and visitors should behave quietly and travel slowly through villages. It is recommended for women to wear a lavalava (sarong); nude or topless bathing is prohibited.

When entering a fale (palm-roofed open beach huts), shoes should be removed, visitors should never stand when elders are seated, and when sitting down, the soles of feet should not be shown (the yogic cross-legged style is a good option). Permission should always be asked before taking photographs in a village. Visitors should not offer money to children, even when they ask.