Things To Do & See > Historical and Cultural Sites > Historical and Cultural Sites of Ha’apai > Tofua Island

Tofua Island belongs to the Ha’apai Island Group.

It was just after 8am on April 28, 1789, when the famous Mutiny on the Bounty occurred between Lifuka and the volcanic island of Tofua.

As Fletcher Christian and the mutineers set sail for Tahiti, Captain William Bligh and 18 companions rowed their way to Tofua. The reception they received there was no better than on the Bounty and the landing party was attacked and one person was killed.

Bligh then set off on what has become on of the most famous voyages in naval history. Over 42 days he travelled 5800km to Timor where he was rescued and taken back to England.

The Bounty story has been made into four major films – one in 1916, the classic Charles Laughton/Clark Gable version in 1935, Marlin Brando’s and Trevor Howard’s version in 1962 and a film starring Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson in in 1984.

On 28 April, Don McIntyre will embark on an incredible nautical journey to re-create one of the most extraordinary stories of survival and determination – Captain William Bligh’s 3,700 mile open boat ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ voyage. The reenactment, following the journey across the Pacific from Ha’apai in the Kingdom of Tonga to Timor, will launch on the same day, at the same time and in the same place 221 years after the original mutiny journey. Read more here. View and listen to William Bligh’s account of the ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ here.

Getting to Tofua today is not easy but those who make the effort are overwhelmed by the volcano, its sense of history and beauty.

Tofua, Ha'apai Group, Kingdom of Tonga

Tofua (a volcanic island in the Ha'apai group in the Kingdom of Tonga)

Tofua (a volcanic island in the Ha'apai group in the Kingdom of Tonga)

Rudolf, who lives on Tofua (a volcanic island in the Ha'apai group in the Kingdom of Tonga)

Hiking on Tofua (a volcanic island in the Ha'apai group in the Kingdom of Tonga)