Pilen Seleur Eel Pools Tickets & Tours
Waterfalls and mountains can be visited in many places, but the experience to be had at Pilen Seleur in Pwudoi is uniquely Pohnpeian. River pools on either side of the road are home to scores of huge Marbled Eels — also called Giant Mottled Eels (Anguilla marmorata). The eels are sacred on Pohnpei and figure prominently in local mythology.
About
Members of the Lasialap (Great Eel Clan) consider the mottled beasts to be their extended family, protecting and feeding them (Pohnpeians have a taboo on eating freshwater eels, though they are eaten in nearby Kosrae). Visitors can walk down to either pool and watch local men and boys stroke the eels, pick them up, or entice them with cans of mackerel to slither entirely out of the water. Some of the creatures are more than a meter long. You can even try handling one yourself; don’t worry — the eels are quite docile and rarely bite.