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"Vaioro Falls"

Afareaitu, Moorea Island, French Polynesia

About “Vaioro Falls”

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Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

“Vaioro Falls” is the other of two notable waterfalls decorating the mountains backing the town of Afareaitu on the southeast coast of Moorea Island.

Like the “Putoa Falls”, I put quotes around the name of this waterfall because I really have no idea what this waterfall is supposed to be named. According to our 2007 version of the Moon Tahiti book, it dubbed this waterfall the “Atiraa Falls” though I wondered why this one would get a name unique from its stream when the other one was much bigger and more prominent. So until I get definitive word on its real name, I chose to name this falls after the stream it’s on (which our 2002 LP book called the Vaioro Stream).

This waterfall could also be seen from town, but I had to look a little closer given its slender stature. To get right up to the falls itself, I had to drive the rental car on an even rougher unsigned access road (see directions below) before I had to hike to the waterfall’s base (which you see pictured at the top of this page). The hike was mostly uphill with some mild scrambling over fallen trees while I also had to deal with some overgrowth.

Most of the hike was closed in by dense jungle vegetation. So there were very limited opportunities to get a look at the “Vaioro Falls.” It was also hard to get a sense of the surrounding mountains once I got into the jungle canopy as well.

It wasn’t until I caught sight of part of the falls through the dense foliage when the trail was adjacent to the Vaioro Stream did I finally realize that I was very close to the falls. After a few more minutes of ascending, I was before the tall and slender falls, which had to be at least over 100ft or more.

And like the “Putoa Waterfall,” it was hard to photograph this entire waterfall in one go from this close to it. There was a small plunge pool at its base, which I’d imagine some locals and intrepid visitors have gone here for a swim before, and there was enough mist from the falls to force me to wipe the lens every now and then when I was busy photographing it.

The time it took for me to walk from the car and back (somewhere around half-way or so on that access road) was about a half-hour round trip. However, I could easily envision this being a much longer walk (roughly 30 minutes to an hour or so each way) if the car was left by the main road and the entirety of the access road was done by foot.

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Tagged with: afareaitu, tahiti, french polynesia, moorea, waterfall, south pacific



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