One of our favorite moais is the Ahu Tongariki (below), which has the largest funeral platform in Rapa Nui. This ahu dates back to 900-1000 AD, so that makes it about 1000 years old. It is 200m long with 15 statues erected on the platform. When we saw these majestic 1000+ year-old ceremonial relics, we couldn’t help the oohs and the aahs. Most of the moai were destroyed in 1960 by a tsunami that scattered them up to 100 meters inland. Thanks to Japan’s contributions, they were reconstructed using complex computational models. If this wasn’t known to us, we wouldn’t have noticed they had been restored. We liked Ahu Tongariki so much that we drove past it several times to look at it and take pictures from different angles.

Ahu Tongariki with 15 Moai

Moai with their backs against the ocean

Scattered hats of the moai

Only they know the ancient history and culture of Rapa Nui

Just us and the magnificent archaeological site

A

Imagine another place, another time

Keeping our distance away from the ahu and some ruins

A fallen moai at Ahu Tongariki - Note the sign that indicates we are not allowed to touch or step or climb onto any of these historical structures.

The fallen moai

The “Traveling Moai” at Ahu Tongariki - It was taken to the International Osaka fair in Japan for exhibition in exchange for Japan’s financing of the restoration project.

Ahu Tongariki and Traveling Moai

Volcano near Ahu Tongariki

Another volcanic hill

Every day, we made sure to have our lunch first before setting out for the day around Rapa Nui, as you can only find food near the little town of Hanga Roa. So if you intend to set off for the day in the morning before lunch, pack some sandwiches and water with you. One of our favorite driving routes is the paved road along one of the sides of the island where we could drive along the Pacific ocean. Although there were hardly any cars on the road, we drove slowly in the countryside. You never know when the horses or cows are crossing the road unattended!

View along the ocean drive

That’s Grace sitting (kinda) near the edge of the cliff

Gazing out to the far horizon from one of the world’s most isolated islands

Horses roaming freely all over the island

Remnants of ancient oval-shaped boathouses

Easter Island or Rapa Nui is not an island where you could get lost as it spans only 180 square km, so we found it an amazing pleasure to explore the island at our own pace with our rented jeep, passing by the free roaming horses, cows and also looking out for big birds flying across the green fields. Rapa Nui was formed two and a half million years ago as volcanoes emerged from the depths of the ocean, so we could see volcanic rocks scattered all over the place.

Why is Rapa Nui named Easter Island? Well, the island was discovered by a dutch captain called Jacobo Roggeween, on April 5 1722 on Easter Sunday, that’s how the island got its present name. Rapa Nui was said to have been inhabited by navigators from Polynesia around 300 AD, but the island’s history took a tragic turn with the advent of slave trafficking. A Peruvian captain stormed the village town in 1862 and captured almost 1000 natives, forcing them to work as slaves collecting guano (seafowl excrement) on the Chinchas islands facing the Peruvian coast. They also seized the Maori, masters of the ancient Rongo-Rongo script. Some time later, natives remaining on the island were almost wiped out by smallpox, and by 1877, only 111 people survived. The tradition of oral culture and history of the island was thus lost forever. Today, there are roughly 4000 inhabitants living here.

Brown bird

One of the volcanoes on the island

One of the mysterious wonders of Rapa Nui is definitely the gigantic statues called moai, made by ancient natives presumably to immortalize the images of their ancestors. It is hard to imagine how difficult it must have been for the natives to move these 80-ton carved statues using their creativity, with ropes made from the mahute tree, tree trunks and sheer human strength.

Ahu Nau Nau (below) is a set of moai located on Anakena beach. It has 7 well-conserved statues that boast details such as tattoos and clothing that are not present in other moai.

Ahu Nau Nau

Some of the moai here had already lost some parts

Staying away from the sacred platform (ahu)

The 1000+ year-old moai

Easter Island - or Rapa Nui as it is called locally - is probably the most remote island and one of the most mysterious in the world. It’s a nearly 5 hour flight to Santiago, Chile and another nearly 5 hour flight to Tahiti. In between those two there are no other inhabited islands and nothing but the vast Pacific ocean. This remoteness played an important part in the history of the island as for hundreds or even thousands of years, the islanders had no contact with the outside world and must have thought they were the only people on the earth.

This remoteness is also part of the charm of going there, knowing you are in the most remote island in the world, a place where civilization once carved impressive Moai statues out of volcanic rock with nothing but primitive tools, and a place where you can gaze out to sea knowing that there is no land for thousands of miles around. There are however, a few inconveniences to such remoteness: Almost everything is about twice the price as in mainland Chile (except gasoline), and unless you are willing to spend over US $1000 a night on a hotel room at the hotel Explora, don’t expect anything more than guest-room type accommodation which can easily cost over US $150 a night.

The jeep we rented for our first day

Since we’re the adventurous type and don’t particularly fancy being packed into a tourist bus and herded along from one attraction to the other, we decided to rent a jeep and explore the island at leisure. Besides the island is so small it’s impossible to get lost and not that many roads are paved so we got a bit of the 4WD adventure while enjoying some amazing scenery and archeology.

Horses on the road

The first thing they warn you when you rent a car is to be careful of the wildlife on the road. The island is full of semi-wild horses that roam freely and can be seen walking across or down roads everywhere even in the main town of Hanga Roa.

The church in Hanga Roa

Ahu Akivi

Ceremonial platforms, known as “Ahus” are scattered throughout the island. They are rectangular in shape and are considered the most sacred structures on Easter Island as it was a place where ancestral worship took place hundreds of years ago. Some of these Ahus have statues of human figures on them, and these rock statues are known as the “Moai”. Indeed, we’ve traveled so far to see the Moai in person. The Moai were probably carved between the year 1250-1500, and typically have big heads in relation to the torso, elongated noses with big nostrils. The long-gone natives carved them as representations of their ancestors whom they regarded as deities.

Above is one of the famous Ahus called Ahu Akivi which is made up of 7 Moai. As with almost every Ahu and field on the island, horses are nearby, and this one decided to pose for a picture in front of the 7 Moai.

Ahu Akivi

Here you can see how tall the Moai are in relation to Grace who was standing in front of them.

Side view of Ahu Akivi

Most of these Moai have suffered damage throughout their history due mainly to infighting between the different tribes, and many have been restored in recent years. Stay tuned for more amazing pictures of this island in the next posts.