Moso's Footprint

In the lava of southern Savai'i is a depression around two metres long shaped roughly like a human footprint, and Samoan tradition holds that the giant Moso made it stepping across from Fiji, with a matching print left on Viti Levu; geologists explain it by a tree whose roots had spread through the jointed basalt and which toppled in a cyclone. The site is on village land at Letolo and a fee is collected. There is nothing built around it. The Pulemelei mound lies on the same plantation, a short distance further in.

The main sights

• The footprint - a depression around two metres long in the lava.
• The Moso legend - the giant said to have stepped across from Fiji.
• The plantation setting - the Letolo estate the site sits on.
• The Pulemelei link - the great mound on the same land nearby.

When to go

May to October is the drier season. The track in is difficult after rain. Village fees are collected on the way in.

Good to know

It is a hollow in rock and ten minutes covers it. Nothing is interpreted on site. The track can be overgrown and hard to follow.

Nearby

Pulemelei Mound is on the same plantation, and Salelologa is east.

Key facts