Paia Dwarfs Cave — Attraction in Savaiʻi

Amazing cave, generated by lava flow from Mt Matavanu 100 years ago. Swiftlets with echolotion (that you can hear) live inside.

We went there with no guide. Easy slow drive with 4WD. Entrance to the right where nice bushes were planted, just use Google maps. When you go down, you can go left (slightly downwards) for very very long. After about 100m there‘s a cold pool whit muddy ground. It’s quite difficult to get down. Afterwards it goes on for hundreds of meters; didn’t go further this first time. Down to the right after the entrance, you can walk about 100m until way is blocked.

It seemed we were the first down there for a while. It’s really amazing to have such a cave for yourself, while the same cave in another (more touristic) country might be full of tourists.

We had no issues with our kids (5 to 9) and with sandals. I would have the ground expected to be more slippery. We took headlamps plus one stronger underwater torch with us.

Don’t go there with just your smartphone lamp, it’s a waste of time because you won’t see anything as the cave is really huge. Maybe ask in the village or in a dive shop, but you definitively need a strong torch!

EDIT: we went there again, 3 weeks later. Went down and left. After the first pool, there are 2 more pools coming, each filled with cool water about breast deep (1.5m). After the 3td pool, the cave seemed to end as stones were blocking the path. It took us about 30 minutes one way to get past the 3rd pool. We felt a bit dizzy after being about 1.5 hours below the surface. I would recommend not going alone, tell somebody where you go plus take extra...

We weren't able to find it by ourselves, so we went back on the next day and stopped on the village nearby to ask for a guide. After all it's only fair. The man sent his son (14yo) who said we could speak english but really, he was only saying "yes"or "okay" to any of our questions lol. 20 tala for the cute company, with a torch but really, a tea light candle would have been better. After the entrance, we turned left, walked for a few minutes in pitch black, then bumped on a steep slope with water and he said we couldn't go there. We turned around, walked past the entrance's tunnel in order to go right from the entrance, he said we could'nt go there... And that was it. It was pretty frustrating because from other reviews, we could have gone much further on the left. That being said, we only had our phone's torch and we would'nt have gone in the water even if our "guide" offered to. At first, I thought I'd pin point the exact location of the cave. But now that I understood Samoans, I think it's best to keep it "secret". Please pay for a guide. Just make sure he's an adult and that he knows what he's...

It’s a really cool off the path cave. The positive is it’s unspoiled by tourism and a very unique cave. Ignore the other review, there is a pool you can swim in, but if your wadding in water for hundreds of meters, you’re not in this cave and probably don’t know what a meter is. The negative is that it’s 20 Tala, 4 times more than all the other attractions and you’ll need your own transport or be willing to hike a ways. I showed up in a scooter and gave my ‘tour guide’ a ride to the cave and he brought a broken flashlight. Luckily I packed my own. 4 stars for it being a really neat cave, but the price and totally dysfunctional ‘tour guide’. Much larger cave than the...