Fenuafala is an islet situated on the most western stretch off the reef off the main island Fakaofo.  Fenuafala is Fakaofo’s second settlement, the main settlement is on Fale islet about three miles to the east of Fenuafala.

In July a delegation tour around the islet initiated by Tourism Officer (TO) Margaret Paul as part of the annual work plan activities and capacity building in tourist guiding.

The tour party arrived at Te Tolotolo (literally end of the island) to set the scene and briefed by landowner Puka to take the tourists on a journey back into the history of Te Tolotolo from his family’s perspective.

Puka is a descendant and fifth generation from the original Antonio Pereira, a Portugese trader. He (Puka) shared his family’s history of how Pereira the Portugese trade arrived on Fakaofo via Samoa in the early 1860s, and he bought and cultivated the islet as a coconut plantation after signing a deal with Benjamin Hughes and Theodore Webber, agents for the German trading company Godfrey and John in Apia. Benjamin Hughes returned to Samoa expeditiously after the British Western High Commission in Fiji found out that he assisted the Peruvian slave trade that almost depleted the population of Fakaofo at the time. After Antonio Pereira died in 1890, his son Jose Pereira carried on the legacy left behind by his father in looking after the coconut plantation.

The Puka family now live on Te Tolotolo running a small store selling assorted essentials and a welding workshop. The two story house is remnant of the Portugese villas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where Antonio Pereira grew up.

Now days Puka cuts fresh toddy in the mornings and evenings for his family, making use of the high value piece of real estate. Puka shared his dream during his account of the rich history of Te Tolotolo was quite reminiscent of his hardworking ancestors who toiled the land of Fenuafala.

Puka intends to build an old peoples home on the site and one day develop the end of the islet into an eco-tourism and recreational area for locals and visitors.

The tour party mentioned that the tour was an eye opener and site visit to Te Tolotolo history update beneficial, unique, and exciting to hear the local people and their aspirations on tourism and enhancing the environment.

Site Visits

Representatives from the Department of Economic Development, Natural Resources and Environment conducted a site tour around Fenuafala islet. Fenuafala is Fakaofo’s second settlement, the main settlement is on Fale islet about three miles to the east of Fenuafala.

The tour coincided with the visit by Director of the Department of Economic Development, Natural Resources and Environment (EDNRE) Mika Perez. Mr Perez is based at EDNRE head office in Atafu, alongside EDNRE’s Manager of the Economic Development Division which houses the tourism unit Siale Kine who is based at EDNRE station, Nukunonu.

The team toured significant local historical and contemporary sites:

Fenuafala Hospital

The team met with the registered Nurse Laila who took the visitors on a tour of the recently opened hospital establishment. The hospital includes an outpatient wing, conference room, x-ray department, mortuary and a patient ward wing. It also includes three new annexes to cater for the COVID-19 pandemic. Historically, the new hospital replaced the old Fenuafala hospital that was built in the mid-1970s. The original Fakaofo hospital was located at Te Papa on Fale islet. That establishment was washed away by tropical cyclone Tusi in 1987. Upon resettling Fenuafala in the 1960s, the Taupulega made the decision to relocate the hospital to Fenuafala.

Tialeniu School

The team then visited the Tialeniu School. Like the hospital built on Fenuafala, Tialeniu School was another relocation made by the Taupulega in 1969. The current school establishment replaces the old school that was built under the supervision of New Zealand builders. School tour guide Fuli Alovaka directed the visitors while enjoying the breeze under the kanava tree, to the new Tialeniu. Today, the version Tialeniu has a double story with 7 classrooms on each floor. Annexes include a kindergarten, early education classrooms, manu-al arts and home economics building and USP distant education building.

Fota o Aliki

The team then met with Taupulega elder Sio Moti, who shared how Te Fota a Aliki used to be a highly respected piece of fish hunting ground on the reef adjacent and about half a mile from Epenesa Fou church in Fenuafala. He recited on how many catches in yester years were shared amongst the dwellers of Fenuafala. If the catch was bountiful, distribution was extended to the dwellers of Fale islet.

Sio Moti also recorded a woman by the name of Vae who resided in Fale islet and used to travel to Te Fota a Aliki to fish there. Sio Moti concluded with the challenges faced by today’s fishers of the fota, in ways that reflect modern times and individualistic ways of living.

Epenesa Fou Church

The team then stopped by the Epenesa Fou Church where elder Sio Moti explained that due to the difficulties of travelling to Fale by the Fenuafala Ekalesia Fakalapotopotoga Kerisiano Tokelau parish members, the church leadership decided to ease that by building a church in Fenuafala to be called Epenesa Fou. The church was opened in the mid-1980s.

Tokelau Telecommunication Corporation Centre (Teletok)

The touring team then stopped by the Teletok building that was built in 1996 and was opened officially for business in 1997. According to Mr Perez who had shared some insights into the company, Teletok’s was guided by the Tokelau Telecommunication Rules 1996. Mr Perez mentioned that the new building replaced the original building. And Tokelau is set to install its high tech fiber optics internet system via the South-ern Cross  next marine cable that stretches from Auckland and Melbourne in the southern hemisphere to San Diego in the northern hemisphere. Mr Perez also added a recollection of the days of Council of the Ongoing Government days in Fakaofo in 1997 where the only fax machine available on Fakaofo was at TeleTok via a PEACESat satellite dish. Government officials working from the Fale settlement used to take the 10 minutes boat ride to Fenuafala to send faxes overseas at the time.

Fenuafala Wharf

Tour Coordinator Margaret Paul took the visitors to the Fenuafala wharf where she briefly explained when the work started and ended. The project was co-funded by Tokelau and New Zealand. Australian construction company Hall Pacific Ltd was commissioned by the Tokelau government to build the wharfs for Fakaofo. One at Fale and the other at Fenuafala. Both milestone pieces of development have added to the quality of life of the people of Fakaofo.

COVID-19 Quarantine Centre

Deep into the forest of Fenuafala on the western side of the islet, a COVID-19 quarantine Facility Centre is under construction. According to tour coordinator Margaret Paul, the facilities will help ease the burden should the hospital beds become exhausted with COVID-19 patients.

Fenuafala Power Station

Director of Energy Alfred gave an account of how Tokelau is the only country in the world that relies 90% on renewable energy through its solar power systems. He gave a short brief on how the suns energy is captured in the solar panel grids which are connected to the batteries for storage. The other 10% of the time is still relying on diesel powered generators. There will be an extension to the solar panel grids in near future to address the increasing electricity demand that should also make Tokelau 100% renewable energy dependent.

Tree House

The team then headed out to the southern coast of Fenuafala, to the tree house. The site is very popular with youth during nocturnal hours. Hence it became obvious the motivation that inspired the tree house keeper to build this semi eco-tourism initiative for its night time activities. Tree House owner Ruevita Lotin mentioned the establishment was set up to escape the busy life of Fenuafala and sit at the tree house where one could relax and watch the ocean waves and the fish on the reef.

Source: Tokelau Department of EDNRE

Photo Credit: (L-R) Tokelau Department of EDNRE & Fenuafala Island Map – courtesy of Prof. Eugene Rankey (Kansas University)