The caretakers of one of Samoa's popular tourist attractions - the Papaseea Sliding Rocks - are in the process of creating a better tracking system to monitor tourists to ensure they do not go missing. 

This was revealed by the Papaseea Women’s Committee president, Marie Vaitagutu, in a recent interview with Samoa Observer.

She said the safety of visitors to the scenic location is paramount for them, consequently the decision to create the tracking system. 

“The safety of everyone that visit the sliding rocks is always prioritised, which is why they are always advised about the danger zones.

“There are also signboards that inform visitors on things they should do and no to do. In order for us to keep track of those who visit, we have them sign before going in but at the moment we do not have a system where it keeps tracks of those who leave the site safely.

“It is with this reason that we have considered to develop a better plan to keep track of those from going missing without our knowledge,” she said.

Mrs. Vaitagutu said an effective way to keep track of their visitors is to have them sign out before they leave the site after visiting.

“We will consider signing before and after, that way it can help us track the safety of people, because if they go missing we would not have any indication. But there has been no sign of anyone missing here since 2004, which is a very long time ago.

“But usually we only had cases of people getting injured during times when the waterfall is overflowing but at the end of the day we want to improve how we can assure the safety of our visitors,” she added.

Last year New Zealand tourist Helen Gebel, who sustained injuries while visiting the site and fractured her left foot and arm, had to be carried out of the area on a stretcher by rescue workers.