The Moai of Rapa Nui Easter Island

Known locally as Rapa Nui, the Easter Island is at 3,510 kilometers to the west of Chile in the South Pacific Ocean.

This 163.6 kilometer square Island was named Easter Island by the Dutch Admiral Roggeveen who came upon this Island on the Easter Day in 1722.

It is pretty much populated given its isolated location.

When to go

The Rapa Nui Island experiences a subtropical marine climate. The hottest months are January and February with maximum temperature is around 28 degree Celsius on an average. In winters, the temperatures range from 14 degree Celsius to 22 degree Celsius. While most of the rainfall occurs in April-May, be prepared for a downpour at anytime of the year.

The months of July and August, though chilly, are a good hiking season. It’s from January to March that the tourists flock the Rapa Nui Island.

How to go

From Chile, Lan airlines serve Rapa Nui Island four times in a week at its Mataveri airport.  It serves to/from Santiago and to/from Papeete/Tahiti. From Santiago, the journey to the Rapa Nui Easter Island takes about five hours.

If you are travelling from Asia or Australia, you will have to come via New Zealand to Papeete to Easter Island.

Attractions

Unique to Rapa Nui are stone figures known as Moai. It is a cultural phenomenon of a society of Polynesian origin that settled on this Island in A.D. 300. They built these shrines and stone figures from the 10th to the 16th century along the coastlines.

There are about 100s of them on this Island, either standing on the sites they were erected at, some of them restored, some lying on the ground and some at the quarry where they were created. These figures were supposed to be reflecting the images of the chiefs or the lineage heads, to commemorate them.

One of the archaeological ruins here is Ahu. These large stone platforms were on which the maoi are erected, where also used as burial sites.  The Ahu Te Pito Kura on the southeastern coast of Rapa Nui is the largest moai erected here. This 10 meters long moai is supposed to be the last maoi erected on an Ahu and also the last one to fall.

At Ahu Tongariki, also at the southeastern coast, there are 15 moai that have been re-erceted. This was the largest Ahu though destroyed in 1960 Tsunami. Near by are a number of petroglyphs.

Near the Ahu sites are the ruins of Hare Paenga. These are stones that outline the floor and formed the foundation of boat-shaped houses. The depressions indicate where the walls stood. They were used from the 14th to the 19th century.

Another archaeological site that has a number of moai along the Southeastern Coast here is the Rano Raraku. The slope of this volcano is the quarry used for the moai. Among the many standing, fallen and incomplete moai here is the largest one carved, measuring 21 meters. As per certain estimates, about 1000s of moai have been enearthed, nearly half of which are found on the Rano Raraku hillside.

On the west coast of the Rapa Nui Islands is the Ahu Aki, another site dedicated to 7 maoi that was restored in the 1960s. These are particularly interesting to watch at the equinoxes, when the figures are directly facing the sunset.  At Ahu Vinapu too you can see the remains of maoi and those with short legs.

The Ana Te Pahu on the western coast of the Rapa Nui Island is a former cave dwelling with a garden on the front with traditional island fruits and vegetables.

A natural area cum an archaeological site here is the Orito, the slope of which is an obsidian quarry used to create spearheads and other tools.  Above the Rano Kau crater Lake is the Orongo Ceremonial Village. The site was active in the 18th and 19th centuries as a village of the bird cult. There are petroglyohs with bird-like carvings on boulders here. You can trail down to the Lake as well.

You should also visit the village of Hanga Roa, where most of the people of this Island live.  Here, worth a visit is the Iglesia Hanga Roa, a Catholic Church.  Its wood carvings bring the Christian and the Rapa Nui tradition together. Sundays are perfect to see the vibrancy of this church.

Worth a visit is the Museum – Museo Antropologico Sebastian Englert that reflects on the lifestyle of the Polynesian people of the Island and the way it emerged.

There are plenty of natural attractions on the Rapa Nui Island. The Parque Nacional Rapa Nui or the Rapa Nui National Park was established in 1935 to protect the archaeological monuments. It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park, in fact, comprises nearly half of the Island with moai, caves, ahu (ceremonial platforms), village structures and petroglyphs.

Among the beaches, there is Ovahe, with its caves and Playa Anakena. On the eastern end of the Island is the Poike Peninsula with the extinct volcano Maunga Pu A Katiki, the highest point here. The small crater of Pana Pau is known for its red scoria, used to make pukao, the topknot on a moai’s head.

There are a couple of good beaches to sit back and relax at. The Island has sites good for water sports. Motu Nui is where you should head to, if you want to enjoy snorkeling and scuba-diving. The Pacific water here is a joy for surfers too.

Hike or horse ride through the archaeological sites here, if that’s your way of fun.

Of the cultural treat that you get here, one is the Kari Kari, where in the Kari Kari groups perform a musical show of Island legends at the Hotel Hanga Roa.

You will see the best of this Island and the Rapa Nui culture in the period from late January to early February. This is the time to celebrate Tapati, a festival dedicated to the Polynesian cultural heritage of the Island.

The possessiveness of the Rapa Nui for their culture is worth admiring. They love these moai as a symbol of their past, not because of the tourism that they are giving boost to. That’s one reason why they oppose more excavations in addition to the fact that excavating and declaring a site as an archaeological one will in turn leave less for their livelihood.

Apart from beaches, which you will find on any of the Islands in the world, the archaeological sites and the moai gives Rapa Nui a cut above the rest.

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