SCHOOL GROUPS FESTIVAL

Get a group of schools together, fly over to Samoa, and we'll host you all in our village of Falealupo. You may have to sleep in a grass-hut, a Samoan fale, or we can put you in a house belonging to one of the Chiefs. You can even camp-out on the beach or sleep in our Rainforest Canopy 'resort' - with the birds and the bats and the forest spirits. Truly, you can hear them at night, even down the lavatube caves and sometimes underwater when you are snorkeling.

You name the Festival rules, the theme, the activities, the budget and we'll put together the itinerary for you all.

It's that simple. And Samoa is suitable for school groups for all 12 months of the year - we are in the rain-shaddow, so it's blue sky every day - even in the rainy season. And if it does rain, it's so warm - the best place to be is in the lagoon swimming in the rain, even drinking freshwater from the springs beneath the corals. True!

We'll have some singing and dancing and coconut tree climbing and clam husking and coconut husking and coconut crab hunting and canoe-building and woodcarving competitions.

Then we'll have traditional singing and dancing and feasting and sporting competitions.

Luckily, the Council of Chiefs has just passed a new law requiring all visiting school groups to win every competition, which is great cos you won't need to cheat or train either. Now, how's that for genuine Samoan hospitality and Festival ferver.

And if you are into storytelling and making legends, then we'll teach you the art. May be you can teach us a few skills as well.

To conclude, you'll be farewelled from the village in a very traditional way, so don't bring your best All Blacks jumper, ipod, cassette-player and ear-rings!!

This could possibly turn out to be the best school group holiday your teachers have ever been on, just ask Mr. Tala Elise at Auckland Grammar.

PS: We cater especially for those school groups that want to make a contribution to humanity, to the environment (locally and globally) and who may even wish to get involved on a village project, building a school library, a public library, an internet cafe, an environmental resource centre, help equip the local kindergarten/pre-school, plant a tree or just support the local woodcarvers.

This festivity is as much for you as it is for us, and this type of sustainable community tourism is another business venture that our village excels at. We already have a long safe history of caring for school groups, and we want your group to help support our village development.

Our alternative is to continue logging our rainforests, but that's the last option. By the way, we've just realized that our forests in Falealupo Village have been eating your carbon, so we'll have words when you get here.

PS: So, if any of you want to do some research for your school subjects and/or university courses, then we'll encourage you back to our 'beach laboratory', our 'living museum'. In fact, look-up http://gef-passamoa.blogspot.com to get a better idea of all the environmental, educational, socio-economic, cultural and developmental projects that Samoa, and Falealupo Village, are currently contemplating for your school groups' benefits.


School Groups Festival, accommodation types, activities, cultural protocol, development projects