Most people go to Tonga to swim with whales or just enjoy the beach. For us, a highlight of Tonga was the pigs and piglets. I took many photos of the pigs of Tonga, mostly in Vavau, so here is a short post compiling those images.
I like to document the different animals we see on our travels. The pigs of Tonga are nowhere near as dramatic or diverse as the animals of Panama or Colombia, but I never got bored of stopping to watch and photograph them.
Where to see Pigs in Tonga
We spent a lot of time in Vavau, and more than a week in Haapai, and saw pigs everywhere. Many live outside of town and spend their days wallowing in mud and eating whatever they can find in the grass and roads. Some of the pigs who live more remotely even venture into the sea, like the swimming pigs of Bahamas, only these pigs catch fish!
These pigs are well fed.
Pigs in the Road
One thing we noticed is as we were approaching some pigs on the side of the road, they would run, but instead of running away from us, they would cross in front of us and into the street. Fortunately we never saw any accidents. The Tongans are used to it.
Some of the pigs looked too big to run, but they surprised us!
Mama Pigs
Some of the adults are huge and kind of scary and they will defend their babies. We saw a lot of big mama pigs, sometimes walking around, often trailing several piglets. Sometimes more than several!
A few times we saw a few piglets violently nursing on their mamas. At least this one got to lie down.
If you’re in Neiafu, check out Coffee and Tees, which sells an assortment of clothing, including tees and tanks printed with beautiful graphic art related to Tonga like whales and sharks. I bought one with a pig because some of my best memories of Tonga are the pigs and piglets.
Like animals? Read about the cats of the Caribbean
Piglets
When the piglets run, they wag their tails very fast. It’s adorable.
Because the piglets run way too fast, I didn’t always get great photos. Trust me: they’re super cute to watch. Walking around Tonga looking for pigs – and finding them – always put a smile on my face. I hope this post and the photos did the same for you!
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