'Eua National Park, National park on Eua Island, Tonga
Eua National Park is a protected area on Eua Island, Tonga, featuring steep coastal cliffs with caves and deep chasms cut into the rock. Dense tropical rainforest covers the landscape and provides habitat for local wildlife and plants.
ʻEua National Park received national park status in 1992, making it Tonga's only national forest park; its 4.51 km² of rainforest on the island's east coast are protected under IUCN categories. The park's information boards, such as the one at Lokupo lookout, record that Lokupo is the old name of the forest and coast below the cliff.
The park's name comes from the island of ʻEua, and the lookout above the cliffs is called Lokupo, an old name for the forest and coast below, as the information board there explains. Signs in English stand beside each natural feature, including the Big ʻOvava tree, Hafu pool and Smoking Cave.
Several marked trails wind through the rainforest and along the cliffs, and visitors can hire local guides for organized treks. Sturdy footwear and rain gear are recommended as paths pass through wet terrain and steep sections.
The park protects about 1,000 trees of Podocarpus pallidus, a rare and endangered conifer found here, along with the Eua forest gecko (Lepidodactylus euaensis), a rare and endangered gecko. Eleven plant species are listed as endemic to the area, among them Aglaia heterotricha and Pittosporum yunckeri.
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