Lake Vaiaki is the smaller of Niutao's two interior brackish ponds, lying near Lake Manu'a in the middle of the island. It is shallow, partially overgrown with reeds, and ringed by dense vegetation. Mosquitoes are bad here at dusk.
Together with Lake Manu'a, Vaiaki gives Niutao a notably different feel from the country's true atolls — the island has a real interior, with shaded inland depressions rather than the open lagoon-and-rim geography of, say, Funafuti or Nukufetau. Ask in the village before going; one of the older men will usually walk you out and tell you which families' coconut groves you are crossing.