Namua is one of four small islands in the
Aleipata Islands, off the east coast of
Upolu island in
Samoa. The island is a 10-minute boat ride from Upolu and has beach fale accommodation for visitors. There are lookouts and it takes about an hour to walk around the island.
Namu'a is an eroded tuff cone but does
not have the horseshoe shaped bay on the east side as the others neighbouring islands. Whistler (1983) recorded that it was
uninhabited during his visits in 1974-81 but that
the remains of concrete buildings were present. It
is 20 ha in extent and 70 m in elevation and mostly
clothed in secondary coastal forest (Whistler 1983). Namu'a has a simple architecture with a
steeply dipping cone flank and a half-open crater zone facing toward the
east. Both Namua and Fanuatapu were formed from explosive magma
and water interaction (c.f. Kokelaar, 1983; Sohn, 1996; Auer et al., 2007;
Németh and Cronin, 2009). The explosion locus must have been shallow
and the volcanic conduit open, enabling relatively small amounts of
country rock to be incorporated. The presence of coral and mollusc
fragments in the pyroclastic successions indicates that the explosion
locus was in surface units of a shallow seafloor during the onset of
volcanism. The asymmetry of the islands with breached
eastern sides is likely the result of wave action, rather than a reflection of
original tephra dispersion.
The island now has a small resort on it. The flat area
facing west and sheltered from the Trade Winds is
grassed and there are several fales for visitors.
Namua Island Beach Fales resort - (685) 7510231; 7588209 Email: namuaislandsbeachfales@gmail.com
Birds
Long-tailed cuckoo/Aleva (Eudynamys taitensis)
A single feather of this species was found on the
summit of Namu’a I in Jun 2003.
References
Németh, K., & Cronin, S. J. (2009). Volcanic structures and oral traditions of volcanism of Western Samoa (SW Pacific) and their implications for hazard education. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 186(3), 223-237.
