Easter Island Things to Do

 
by pure1942
 
  •   Things to Do
    by pure1942
  •   Things to Do
    by pure1942
  •   Things to Do
    by pure1942
  •   Things to Do
    by pure1942
  •   Things to Do
    by pure1942
 
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Puna Pau

by pure1942

While the majority of Easter Island’s moai statues were cut and carved from the hard volcanic tuff at the Rano Raraku crater, the pukaos were quarried from the softer, red coloured scoria rock present at the smaller Puna Pau crater near Hanga Roa. Pukao, often called, top knots are the large sculpted rocks hoisted onto the head of the moai after the statues have been erected. Not all the statues had pukao with only around 60 having been placed successfully on top of moai. This has led to the belief that the pukao were a late development in the design of moai and only included on the moai from the later period of construction. No one can say for sure what these pukao are meant to be or symbolise but a common theory is that the pukao are representations of the hair style popular among the Rapa Nui men at the time, where they tied their long hair into a squat bob on top of their head. Just...

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Te Pito Kura

by pure1942

Close to Ahu Te Pito Kura, is another Easter Island oddity. The aforementioned ahu takes its name from a curious, round stone nearby, ‘Te Pito Kura’. According to some local legends, the stone was brought to the island by the first Rapa Nui settlers led by Hotu Matua who landed on the island at nearby Anakena Beach and claimed the stone was the naval of the world. This stone gives the island it’s ancient Rapa Nui name – Te Pito Te Henua meaning Naval Of The World. Another legend says that the stone was native to the land and that it was originally used as a boundary marker by the tribe living at Vinapu. The smooth rounded surface was so unusual that the Rapa Nui people believed it to contain ‘Mana’, a sacred, mystical quality.Curiously the stone is magnetic and placing a compass on the stone will show its magnetic tendencies (see picture) Another oral tradition says that placing your...

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Ahu Te Pito Kura

by pure1942

The largest moai ever actually erected on an ahu is located at Ahu Te Pito Kura. The solitary moai at this ahu site lies face down where it fell centuries ago with its dislodged pukao top knot lying nearby. The ten metre high moai is dwarfed by El Gigante at Rano Raraku but as previously stated, El Gigante was never fully cut from the rock at the quarry and was never erected. The moai at Te Pito Kura is known as Paro and weighs around 80 tons, just ‘slightly’ less than the 86 ton moai at Tongariki which is the heaviest moai ever erected. The pukao of Paro alone weighs around 12 tons and like most other puako was carved from the quarry at Puna Pau before being moved to the other side of the island to be hoisted (somehow) onto the head of Paro. Tradition states that the moai was requested by a widow in memory of her husband. The moai at Ahu Te Pito Kura was one of the last moai to be...

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Ana o Keke – White Virgin’s Cave

by pure1942

Poike Peninsula is also the location of the legendary Ana o Keke or White Virgin’s Cave. The cave is tricky to find but with persistence and patience you can locate the cave, if you are lucky, brave, willing to walk across unmarked land and lucky again. We managed to find the entrance but only with the help of a local who, rather begrudgingly, pointed us in the right direction, but reaching the cliff we were unwilling to risk the steep and risky descent in blustery conditions. Shame because we missed what are supposedly impressive petroglyphs etched on the cave walls but we really were not comfortable descending to the cave entrance in what were very windy conditions. Even on a calm day I’m not sure we would have chanced it!

Poike Peninsula

by pure1942

The Poike Peninsula is the wildest and most isolated part of Easter Island, making it one of the most isolated parts of one of the most isolated places on earth! Located at the eastern end of the island, the peninsula is crowned by the extinct, 400metre high volcano, Maunga Pu A Katiki, which makes the eastern point of the triangular shaped island. Poike is wild and access is only achievable by hiking or horse-back. A trench known as Ko Te Avo o Iko cuts through the peninsula. This depression was supposedly dug by the Long-Ear tribe as a defensive line against the Short-Ear tribe when conflict broke out between the clans during the inter-tribal war.

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Ahu Tongariki

by pure1942

Standing in front of this immense ahu with its 15 re-erected moai you can't help but feel awed and humbled. This was the largest ahu ever constructed and contained the heaviest moai (86 tons) ever successfully erected on an ahu. Tongariki, more than any other ahu, will give visitors a taste of what the ahus and moai of Easter Island would have originally looked like. My fist glimpse of Tongariki was from the slopes of Rano Raraku and even from a distance, the sheer size and scale of Ahu Tongariki is apparent. Getting closer to the site, the staring, expressionless faces of the moai become even more dramatic until you stand, dwarfed, in front of the line of giant moai feeling decidedly inferior to the figures looking down their angular noses at your meagre being! Visiting early in the morning or late in the evening will avoid the crowds and this is when the ahu is at its most atmospheric...

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Rano Raraku Crater

by pure1942

While at Rano Raraku, I was somewhat surprised to see that many of the visitors to the site don’t take the time to climb the slopes and into the volcanic crater itself. Inside the crater are many more moai scattered across the slopes and a shimmering lake surrounded by green tortora reeds. Athough quite during my visits, the crater of Rano Raraku is one of the most important venues for the annual Tapati Rapa Nui festival, which is usually held in late January or early February. The festival which celebrates traditional island culture, music, song, dance and sport is one of the most important events on the Rapa Nui calendar. One of the most popular events during the festival takes place at the Rano Raraku crater in the Rapa Nui Triathlon or Tau’a, where competitors race each other across the lake on small tortora reed rafts before running around the lake balancing huge bunches of bananas...

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Unfinished Moai

by pure1942

El Gigante isn’t the only moai that was never fully cut from the rock. All over the slopes of Rano Raraku are the outlines and half finished corpses of unfinished statues as well as ‘completed’ moai left mid-transport. Some of the half finished moai were abandoned due to difficulties in cutting through especially hard rock, some were damaged during carving and unworthy of completion while others were abandoned due to the conflict. Around the incomplete moai you can even see the sharpened chunks of rock that were used to carve and cut the moai. It makes these enigmatic statues even more impressive when you see that they were produced with nothing more than a fist shaped lump of rock! These were an amazing race of people.

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El Gigante

by pure1942

Another noteworthy moai at Rano Raraku is El Gigante, the largest moai ever carved on the island. The 21 metre, 270 ton giant is still attached to the rock face at the quarry and although almost complete was abandoned suddenly like hundreds more moai at the quarry during an unexplained and sudden halt to moai production. It is generally accepted that an inter-tribal war meant a downing of tools at the quarry and that the carving of moai at Rano Rarakuwould never again resume. At the time, moai production at the quarry was at an all time high and this has led historians to theorise that the quarry workers were being over worked and under fed and this itself was a contributing factor to the tribal conflict. Whatever the reasons behind this work stoppage, looking at the massive El Gigante, you can’t help but feel sorry for the hard working islanders who had to slave away hacking out the 21...

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Rano Raraku

by pure1942

This is quite simply one of the most special places I have ever been. I had dreamed of visiting this place ever since first clapping my eyes on pictures of the weird ‘heads’ of Easter Island in an old children’s encyclopaedia when I was a child. Never imagined I would ever really get the opportunity but while planning our round the world trip in 2009/2010 we found that we could include a flight to Easter Island on a RTW ticket. The pictures that captured my imagination as a child were taken at Rano Raraku and I was actually quite nervous about seeing this place with my own eyes. I was not let down and during my week’s stay on the island, I came here three separate times and had to literally tear myself away every time. The first time I visited I came on a tour with a small group of visitors and while glad I came with a guide to get some background information and to be shown through all...

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ANNE930 profile photo

Q:  Hi All, I live in Macau PRC and am thinking of visiting Easter Island which is always one of my dream places. But travelling to... 

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A: Hi! Was on that amazing island a few years ago. And then the only flights from South America was from Santiago, Chile. But there were also possible to fly there from... 

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