Tupuna Safari Bora Bora: An Awesome Off-Roading Adventure

~ Chris Wada

We wanted to explore the main island of Bora Bora, and decided to book an off-roading tour that took us up to wonderful vantage points around the island.

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For avoidance of doubt, we do not earn a commission or have a relationship with the tour operator referenced in this article. We simply want to give an idea of paid excursions we took while in Bora Bora to help you plan your own trip.

Booking

Before arriving on Bora Bora, we decided we wanted to explore the island. Going onto the main island is something we wanted to do to differentiate this trip from the Maldives. We explored the options available through our resort, but didn’t care too much about the luxury options available.

Instead, we booked an off-roading adventure via Trip Advisor (Tupuna Safari Bora Bora). For this excursion, we paid $304 US for the four of us. That doesn’t include the $25 merchant credit we received on our American Express credit card from an Amex Offer. And it doesn’t include an extra 8X we earned by booking via the Rakuten shopping portal.

After booking, we let our hotel know we made the reservation. They then coordinated logistics with Tupuna Safari Bora Bora to understand when we would begin and end. We stayed at the St. Regis Bora Bora, which charged a nominal fee to take their shuttle over to the main island where this tour would pick us up.

The drive goes around the entire island

Up till this point, we had been on the island at night, but not during the day. This tour will take you around the entire main island. If you’re exclusively driving around the island without stopping, it’s about a 45 minute drive. However, this tour does make a few stops along the way, and you’ll do two steep climbs up sometimes unstable terrain.

Driving around the island itself is a bit refreshing. It’s probably refreshing just because you’re in the back of a pickup truck and can feel the wind on your face as you drive around. But even still, it’s a cute island and very green.

For those wondering, you drive on the right side of the road here, which makes it easy for drivers from the United States or France.

The vehicle

I’m not going to get into the specifics of the make and model of the vehicle, but it’s worth a closer look at what you’ll be riding in if you choose this tour. You’ll be sitting in the back of a pickup truck. There is a cage around you, which provides some protection (mostly from the sun overhead).

There are no seatbelts in the back, and if you’re going up a steep climb, you’re going to have to hold onto the frame. With no restraints, it is easy to fall over if you’re not bracing yourself.

There are no containers to hold your belongings. That means if you want to take pictures of your journey, you’re going to have to hold it yourself.

As an example of the quality of the roads you’ll be scaling in this vehicle, take a look below. You won’t want to drive up this on your own in a regular rental car. Even in the rain, they’ll make every effort to climb up to see the sights.

Our stops on this 4×4 tour

Our driver for this tour was Tiba, who was incredibly friendly and knows quite a few languages. He picked us up from the St. Regis dock on the main island at 8:45AM. We climbed into the back and immediately, we were off. There was another couple already in the back, making for six people total on this tour.

The only public white sand beach on the main island

We soon found ourselves at the first stop of the tour. On the south end of Bora Bora is the only white sand beach on the island. It’s right next to the Bora Bora Beach Club.

If you want, you can take a long pause and take in the calm waters. The reefs around the island are what give Bora Bora its calm waters and protection. All of the beach you can see while standing in the center (as we are) is public.

You’ll immediately notice that it’s not that large of a beach. And while you could go directly into the water, you’ll need to bring your own chairs if you want to lounge.

The other thing to see from this area is the Conrad Bora Bora Nui, which has overwater bungalows peeking out from around the corner. I put it in a red box in the picture below. It’s at this point where I can say that you will not have views of Mt. Otemanu from the Conrad. If that’s important to you (or you’re tired of Hilton devaluations), you might want to book elsewhere.

The first climb (ʻĀmanahune)

Our journey up to the first climb seemed simple enough. Before scaling, Tiba came around to the rear of the truck to let us know we would all be getting a free massage on the way up and down. Cute.

The journey certainly had some bumps but it wasn’t too crazy. That’s good because this is supposed to be the simpler of the climbs. But I did manage to get a picture of us in the middle of the journey.

Once we got up to the top, we had incredible views of our surroundings. On the map of Bora Bora, this vista point is called ʻĀmanahune. Way off in the distance to the east are Taha’a and Raiatea, two neighboring islands. Raiatea is known for its vanilla production. Prior to the pandemic, it also hosted a boarding school for high school students from Bora Bora. You see, the island of Bora Bora was so remote that it didn’t have its own high school until relatively recently.

Once we were done admiring the scenery, we moved on to the next part of the tour.

In town (Vaitape)

We had a brief tour of the main city on the island of Bora Bora, Vaitape. We got a brief bit of history on the Heiva, which is a huge celebration that starts at the end of June and runs until early August. It’s a celebration of Polynesian culture and life. Unfortunately, we just missed the festivities, but we were there to see the setup for it. While there are bleacher seats available to purchase, you could also walk up and see the performances for free.

I also liked seeing things in the city that remind me a little of stuff back home. Take this Mobil gas station, for example.

Or this “Bora Home Depot” store. I’m pretty sure this isn’t related to the massive Home Depot chain found all over the United States.

And you can see what life looks like going to the local grocery store. With the island as small as it is, it’s not like they need a ton of options to go get their groceries.

Brief stop at a private residence

The excursion we booked included a stop at a private residence at around 10AM. Sure, I thought, I’ve seen this before. I was expecting some level of a store where you’re forced to wait around longer than needed in the hopes you buy overpriced goods. But… that didn’t happen. It literally was just a small pitstop where we got to learn a little more about Polynesian culture and traditions. We also watched an artist performing silk-screening in front of our eyes.

And they had a beautiful display of local fruits to enjoy. From the top left of the picture, the fruits are papaya, guava, mango, pomelo, more pomelo, and coconut. If you need the restroom, this is your one and only chance to do it on the tour, so plan accordingly. This is a nice stop and felt much more wholesome than expected.

The second and final climb (Mt. Popoti)

The final climb is a steep, long one. This road is officially only available for those on this Tupuna Safari tour or the Bora Bora ATV excursion. The entrance is guarded by a worker. I’ve heard the worker will allow others to hike the trail for a fee.

Our destination is the rock at the top of the hill in the distance. The thing to watch out for on this trail are tree branches. They are not afraid to whack you as the pickup truck drives by. The kids made it into a fun game where they alleged I was hit over 30 times. I didn’t audit their numbers but that seemed off.

We did pass by some others on their ATVs. Perhaps we would have given that a shot if the kids were older.

Once up here, we had some stunning views of all around the island. You can see at least half the island at the top. No matter which way you look, you’re going to like what you see.

We could also clearly see the one entry point into Bora Bora by sea. The United States used Bora Bora as a military base during World War II specifically because it’s so protected. Any ships that approach will breach unless they enter through this single passage.

After a short while, the kids wanted to act too cool to be in pictures anymore. Kids…

We loved our time up here. It’s well worth the lengthy drive up. Not sure I’d be up for the roughly two hour hike in place of this car ride.

You do get a view of Mt. Otemanu from up here if the clouds allow. And while you can also see the airport from this vantage point, it’s not that reliable of a plane-watching spot. There are so few planes going in and out that the airport looks fairly dead.

After enjoying the scenery, we descended down a different path, and made it back to the St. Regis dock in time for the 12PM boat ride back. In total, it was a tad over three hours for this tour. Tiba was nice enough to ask the other couple where they wanted to get dropped off–anywhere on the island. That’s how you know it’s a small island.

Closing thoughts

We loved our time on the main island. Compared to our time on Hawaii, there are similarities, but the thing that stands out the most was the raw beauty. The island isn’t well-developed and much of it is just pure beauty. That’s more appealing to us than the Hawaiian islands, which can feel a bit overpopulated or too filled with tourists. We heard there were only about 11,000 people living on the island, and that felt right.

The tour itself was perfect for what we were looking for. We wanted to see the whole island and have fun doing it. The kids absolutely adored the steep climbs and the parents loved the views. Tiba was extremely friendly and a treat to have as a guide/driver. Absolutely no regrets about taking this excursion.

Have you explored Bora Bora before?

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