organizing trip to tonga and samoa

HI
I've been traveling a lot in Africa, Asia , New Guinea,South America etc, but now I got rather old and a little tired and I want to have a nice quiet pacific trip Tonga and Samoa or something like this for three to four weeks. Since I am on relatively low budget I would like to know the best way to come to the islands, probably from New Zeland.I would like to do some good trekking ( I am not so old yet), may be some snorkeling with whales and sharks, staying in villages with people- may be living with them for some time in their villages to see how they are doing. What would be the best way to do it. Is there somebody to organize such a trip. I can live on a low budget. don't need expensive hotels, but i would like to mingle with people, do some fishing with them, may be have some feasts. This would probably be my last big travel. What is the best way to come there ( airplane)? What is the proximal price? Are there any reliable operators for such travelers? Would it be better to organize trip to some other islands? I can organize my flight from Europe. I am grateful for any suggestions.
Thanks Bong

Tonga and Samoa are easy to travel in on your own. No need at all for a tour operator.

The Ha'apai islands in Tonga seem like a good choice for you except for the trekking. Haven't been to Eua island in Tonga but you might want to consider that for trekking.

Samoa is far, far more touristy than Tonga. (American Samoa sees hardly any tourists.) The main island of the Ha'apai has about half a dozen guesthouses but life does not center around tourism. It's the real deal and you can partake in genuine village feasts and activities around the holidays (when I was there). There are a couple of smaller islands with one guest house each where possibly you might be the only tourist. You'll get a real Tongan experience.

In Samoa you might consider going to Manono Island (Independent Samoa) or to the Manu'a Islands, especially Ofu, in American Samoa. Both not touristy at all, even less than Ha'apai. Good trekking opportunities, but the islands are not that large. No whale watching in Samoa though.

Tonga is both the cheaper and the friendlier one in my experience, so it gets my vote. It is also more diverse, with many more islands than Samoa.
Plus, I would emphatically NOT recommend "staying with locals" in Samoan villages due to the very real risk of theft, while staying with Tongans is both very easy to arrange (there are lots of real homestays even if you don't get invites to private homes) and apparently safer (heard not one theft story there).

Apart from Eua, there is some good trekking on Vavau, and exceptional in the Niuas, too.

I'd also say a guidebook is the only guide you need - locals are very helpful.

By plane is pretty much the only way to get there, and I think from Europe, Air Pacific is your best bet (via Hong Kong and Fiji). This will also allow you to have a stopover in Fiji, another good country to visit.

Haven't heard any theft stories from Manono either nor from Ofu. But quite a few from Tongatapu. Not to speak of Fiji, the other 'good country'. It appears to me that the smaller the place and the less touristy, the safer you will be overall and anywhere.

Werner, please show us posts on TT where people talk of theft in Tongan or Fijian villages.
I can't recall any such posts on Tonga, and a search couldn't find any on Fiji either, though with its high tourist numbers and urbanization, pickpocketing is certainly a possibility in Fijian cities or on public transport, or in crowded dormitories. Despite spending several months in Fiji, I myself have never heard of a single case of theft from travellers who were "staying in villages with people" which is what OP claims to wish to do.

In contrast in Samoa, theft has been reported by numerous travellers on this very forum, typically from small village fales by one's very hosts (OP can read several on the single thread linked in my last signo line). In the past you yourself described how you make them sign 2 copies for the exact amount of cash/valuables deposited with them, a measure not exactly indicative of too much trust in Samoan hosts.

Talofa lava

Greetings from Samoa, the Treasured Islands of the South Pacific.

For complete visitor information, please visit the Samoa Tourism Authority's website - www.samoa.travel. You'll be happy to know that you can also use the site to book flights and accommodation to suit your budget.

If there is any assistance you need to make your Unique Samoan Experience an enriching reality, do not hesitate to contact the Samoa Tourism Information Service Team on email info@samoa.travel.

Faafetai
Dwayne - Samoa Tourism Authority

Laszlo, how many years have you not been in Samoa? Your vendetta is getting boring. The posts you mention (including mine) refer to Beach Fale resorts, which are not at all homestay. Your own unfortunate experience, many years ago, is the only example of theft at a homestay in Samoa reported on TT - all other incidents were in resorts.

I recommend that the OP considers Manono or Ofu - do you have the slightest reason to assume that he will not be safe there? Less safe than he would be in Tonga or Fiji?

Regarding links, here is one showing nicely your vendetta issue again as well as other people's experience, not having had any problems in Samoa, but in Fiji and the Solomons instead.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1386167

And in this blog someone who had lived in Tonga for eight years comments on theft from foreigners ...
Scroll down to "Tafa", starting with
"In reading all the comments here, I need to let you know that theeft is a huge problem in Tonga and its growing. "

http://tongablog.wordpress.com/recommendations-to-future-pcts-in-tonga/

I found these by just doing a quick Google search

Vendetta?
You keep trying to depict it that way, which is a pathetic attempt by a local tour operator (which many of us know you are, your site in German promising unforgettable experiences and talking of dancing palm trees etc in Samoa) to discredit unbiased advice by genuine travelers to the region.
Several of us reported theft issues on that single thread alone (started by another poster, incidentally a fan of Samoa, not myself), and more came later in new threads on TT itself, without having to resort to searching the net far and wide using Google.
That you had to resort to the latter confirms that indeed no one posted similar experiences about Tonga here over the many, many years.

Bringing Ofu into the discussion is another very poor attempt at misleading people - it is in wealthy American Samoa, a totally different country/territory about which no theft issues have ever been raised here.

Several replies to the following thread are more examples showing how many experienced Pacific travelers and regular posters on this branch aren't exactly fond of the country you live and run your business in - I actually found myself being on your side there:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1893601

I think this must be enough to let any interested readers make their own conclusions so I won't waste more of my travel time (in far more welcoming islands) on arguing more on this thread.

Well at least no one mentioned the dog problem-not yet anyway.

One reason more to go to Manono - no dogs there, not one ;-)

And in Tonga one has Famous Fishing Pigs!

So one really can't go wrong in either country!

@laszlo
I am impressed how well you know my website. I haven't looked at it for more than a year. Nor operated any tours. It had never been a business anyway though, more a pasttime for me and my family, having German folks here for a visit a few times a year.

But what about you ? Being a tour operator yourself and certainly not feeling shy of commenting in the Indonesia section of TT or on PNG where you operate tours to ... :-) Or do you do those individually tailored tours you advertise free of charge?

Being fond of the country I live in is nothing to be ashamed of. I do not need to have a business interest to argue against unjustified generalization. Living in Samoa for many years now I have met quite a few people who have been in Fiji, Tonga and other Pacific island countries. Travelers, business people, consultants. They all agree that theft is on the rise all over the region and that Samoa is in no way more difficult in this regard than any of the other places. Quite a few of them found it a lot safer in Apia than in Honoira, Suva or other places they had visited or lived at before.

So the right advice is to watch out and take good care of your stuff wherever you go to, simple as that. In the Pacific as much as anywhere else. More risk in urban areas than in remote secluded places - in any country again. That refers to American Samoa as well, of course. Being 'wealthy' does not prevent them from thieves. Have you ever been there?

So I still regard Manono and Ofu as recommendable as Hapai'i.