Easter Island Pictures
Rapa Nui Photos

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Moai to the max at a typical cloudy Tongariki sunrise on Chile's Rapa Nui [Easter Island or Isla de Pascua in Spanish], December 2005. This, the largest shrine on the island and the work of several centuries, was restored in 1993.

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Not much of an activity centre and a long, expensive trip from the mainland, but Chile's Easter Island [annexed by Chile in 1888] is little developed, has a small Polynesian population and displays some of the world's oddest artifacts in a barren, volcanic landscape along with a bizarre, self-destructive history. This is definitely a must-see if you can afford it.

Some factoids:
Population: about 3,800. Language Spanish or Rapa Nui. Currency, preferably Chilean pesos. Dollars OK though the exchange rate is pathetic. There is one ATM on the island.
Distance from Chile, 3,800 kms [2,375miles]. Distance from Tahiti [the next island], 4,050 kms. Thus this is the most remote inhabited island in the world.
There are hundreds of moai [stone carved statues] on the island; sources differ on the precise number and we didn't count them.
Easter Island was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

Rapa Nui is triangular, 23km long by 11km wide, and was created by the eruption of three volcanoes that are still visible. The total area of Rapa Nui is 171 sq kms. There are just two sandy beaches, on the north coast.
Climate: subtropical with an annual average temperature of 20C.
Coldest month, August [15C-18C]. Hottest month February [24C-27C].
Wettest month, May [16cm of rain]. The driest month is September. September to April [i.e. the drier months] is the main tourist season.

Easter Island's capital is the tiny, practically invisible town of Hanga Roa.

Viewing moai is possible by rental bicycle though the best groups of statues - such as in the Tongariki pictures above - are on the other side of the island from the accommodation in Hanga Roa, so this will take some time, and if clouds or rain arrive while en route a quick change of target destination is not that easy. Due to the not infrequent rain motorcycles can be a pain too.
A rental jeep [high ground clearance is necessary but not 4WD] is probably the transport of choice, wallet permitting, though informative tours from Hanga Roa can be easily arranged too.

Apart from hiking, biking and bathing off one of the island's two pretty beaches [wheels required], scuba diving is apparently excellent, mainly due to Rapa Nui's total absence of rivers dumping sediment into the sea and thus screwing up visibility.

Bugbog's greatest hits on Rapa Nui are, in no particular order:
- Fifteen moai lined up on Tongariki's volcanic shore [the most on one platform].
- Four well-preserved moai, a bunch of palms trees, soft white sand and the protected waters of delightful Anakena beach.
- Hundreds of well-preserved moai in varied stages of completion emerging spookily from the ground of the grassed, volcanic quarry of Rano Raraku, inside and outside the crater.
- The post-moai, bird-God ceremonial houses and petroglyphs of Orongo, perched on the ridge between the massive Rano Kau volcano and a sheer cliff face into the sea.
- The tiny but perfectly informed Padre Sebastian Englert museum on the outskirts of Hanga Roa which has clear descriptions and exhibits documenting the peculiar history of this island. This is where you will see a female moai, samples of the weapons used during the latter years of conflict and examples of wood engraved with Rapa Nui's unique writing system, rongorongo [a picture-based concept where you have to flip the wood around to read each new line].
Photos of all these locations appear in the following pages.

A minimum visit of two days in Easter Island is possible, but due to clouds and occasional rain that will disturb the ambience and attempts to take decent pictures, at least three or four days on Rapa Nui is recommended.

Rapa Nui Photos © 2006 Julian Loader. All rights reserved.

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