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Rapa Nui - Moai and Birdman

Part 16 - Around the World 06/2015 - 02/2016

By Beyond All Maps - Portraits of our Planet by Thorsten Mehret

December 29^th, 2015

Rapa Nui is one of the most remote islands in the world. The nearest inhabited land is Pitcairn Island, more than 2000km away and the Chilean mainland is even 3500km away. After almost 3 month of island hopping in the Pacific, Rapa Nui was quite a change. Its landscape with grassy planes and hills, rough lava coasts and wild horses feels almost epic and reminded me on Island. Additional there are almost 900 moai around, stone statues created by the ancient inhabitants. This generates an atmosphere that is unique to everything I have seen before. A truly magic place.

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Hanga Roa

The capital of Rapa Nui is just a couple of streets, but most of the islands population is living here.

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On the Road

Probably the best way to explore the 25km long and 13km wide island independently is by one of the common small 4WD. This way it´s easy to visit places several times to soak up the atmosphere at different day times or at different weather conditions.

It´s not easy to grow crops on an island with strong winds and no real shelter, so artificial shelters were constructed or natural shelters like colapsed lave tubes were used.

Rano Raraku - The Birthplace

The crater of Rano Raraku was used as a quarry for about 500 years until the early eighteenth century, and supplied the stone from which about 95% of the island‘s known moais were carved. Once finished they were transported to their intended location. Up to now there is no evidence how they were moved although several theories exist, including rolling on tree trunks. Almost 400 moais remained in the crater in all stages of the carving process. It´s a magical place to wander around, one of my favorite places on earth.

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Ahu Tongariki

It´s a must to visit the biggest group of Moai at sunrise as the atmosphere is magical. But don´t expect to be alone.

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Dance Performance

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Rano Kau

On top of the large volcanic caldera of Rano Kau is the stone village and ceremonial place called Orongo. Between the 18th and mid-19th centuries it was the centre of a birdman cult whose defining ritual was an annual race to bring the first manutara egg back undamaged from the nearby islet of Motu Nui to Orongo. The race was very dangerous, and hunters often fell to their deaths from the cliff face.

Ahu Tahai

This is a classical sunset place close to Hanga Roa. Make sure to wait a while after sunset to get the best pictures of the afterglow. By this time most people have already left, missing out the best part.

Amazing Night Sky

Rapa Nui is one of the most remote islands in the world. That means there is not much light pollution around to disturb the pitch black night sky at new moon.

Anakena Beach with Ahu Nau Nau

Anakena is one of only two white sand beaches on the island. The rest is rocky coastline.

Together with some palms and a group of Moai it´s a stunning beautiful place. I went there 3 times until I got the right conditions for the pictures with clear sky and nice morning light.

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Impressions in Black and white

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