Easter Island, called Rapa Nui by the locals, had been a dream for years: those colossal moai statues, whose history is still not fully understood, on an island that seemed unreachably far away. When Luisa spontaneously got a business trip to South America and I managed to grab two weeks’ holiday, the dream suddenly came within reach. It was a bit crazy, because after our tour through Bolivia and the Atacama Desert only two full days were left. The flight from Santiago is expensive and takes five hours – but it’s Easter Island!
Arrival with flower garlands
At five in the morning, still tired, I said goodbye to Luisa – “See you in four days in Germany” – and shortly afterwards sat in a fully booked 777 on the way to this lonely island in the Pacific. There, locals welcomed me with music and flower garlands. Quickly dropped my luggage in the room, rented a worn-out off-road vehicle, and off I went. The first impression has stayed with me: a beautiful, wide, flat landscape with scattered houses, horses everywhere and laid-back reggae music from the old car radio.
Alone among the moai
With the guidebook “A Companion to Easter Island” I planned my routes so as to avoid the tourist buses, and often had the moai to myself. Impressive how the restored statues stand, while others, never re-erected, lie scattered on the ground. The two days passed like a film, and the stress of travelling was forgotten.
Stars and sunrise at Ahu Tongariki
When it got dark, I stayed out until after midnight. The clear starry sky surprised me, and after asking politely, a night-time visit to the moai was even possible. The night was short: at six I was out again for sunrise at Ahu Tongariki, then on to the moai group at Anakena beach. I drove leisurely across the island in the jeep, stopping again and again to send the drone up and capture the island’s vastness from above. In the evening rain moved in, and after the short night and all the impressions I was glad simply to be worn out. Two days are far too short for this island – a week, perhaps on horseback, that would be a dream.
The dream becomes reality
After more than six months full of work and the move to Konstanz, the photos are now going online, and it’s slowly sinking in that the dream has become reality. Crazy.
Hanga Roa, the only town on Rapa Nui:
Palms, banana plants and flowers outside a house in Hanga Roa, the only town on Rapa Nui.Colourful boats at the jetty in the harbour of Hanga Roa.A church with red patterns, palms and a zebra crossing in front.A red relief and a carved head in the stone wall.Colourful church windows and a wooden figure among white flowers.
Tahai moai group:
The first moai in profile, nothing behind it but sky and a strip of sea.A moai with carvings and a head with a red topknot and eyes – at the Tahai moai group.Rolling hills, fences and a tin hut – a wide, open landscape with the odd house.A lot of sky above a hill and a pasture fence.Horses everywhere – these are grazing by the fence next to the road.Standing moai on a grassy bank, trees behind.Rocky coast, a bay and grassy hills.
The moai “production site” at the Rano Raraku volcano:
Broken moai, never raised again, lying in the meadow.Moai on the slope of Rano Raraku, beside them a head in profile.A moai from below, another standing higher up the slope.Two great heads on the slope – the moai quarry on the Rano Raraku volcano.A single moai and a pair in the grass – I often had them to myself.A standing moai beside a toppled one at the foot of the slope.The moai stand tilted in the slope, a big one in the foreground.Faces of stone, tilted in the green slope.A dry plain running down to the sea, just a few clumps of trees.
Sunset at the Tongariki moai group:
The long row at Ahu Tongariki, the cliff on the left, the sea on the right.The moai on Ahu Tongariki, one wearing a red pukao.A moai with a red pukao, the heads of the row beside it.Restored and upright: the long row on the stone platform at Ahu Tongariki.The row of moai as a silhouette against cliff and sea.Tiny beneath a pale sky: the row at Ahu Tongariki.Pink streaks of cloud above the black line of hills.
Moai group at Anakena beach:
Sunset: moai as silhouettes, a few palms on the right.Three moai and palms against the glowing evening sky.The moai beneath the clear starry sky.A single moai beneath the stars, a pale glow on the horizon.The Milky Way slanting over the palms – out until after midnight.The Milky Way above a group of moai.The moai on the left, the palms on the right, the Milky Way in between.The sky over Rapa Nui – the Milky Way could hardly be denser.
Sunrise at Ahu Tongariki:
A thin crescent moon above the dark hill.The night was short: the crescent moon above the row at Ahu Tongariki.Dawn: an empty slope and the row of moai at Ahu Tongariki.A silhouette in front of the row of moai in the first morning light.A single moai on dark earth, the line of hills behind.The row at Ahu Tongariki against the low sun.Two moai from the front, the left one with a red pukao.The row of moai from behind, one red pukao glowing.The row at Ahu Tongariki, bay and cliff in front – the vastness of the island.The steep coast with turquoise water.Rocky coast and surf, the water turning turquoise.Turquoise water and white surf against dark rock.Dark sea beneath heavy clouds all the way to the horizon – rain came in that evening.A rocky dome with a sheer wall above the fields of the plain.
And once more to the moai at Anakena beach:
A tall palm grove, the sea and distant moai behind.Moai among the palms on the sandy beach of Anakena.The moai group at Anakena beach, with pukao and palms.Three views of a moai with a pukao against a pale sky.Colourful boats in shallow water along the rocky coast.Toppled moai on stony ground, one with a red pukao.Brown grassland with wind-bent shrubs.Rocky coast and a long stone structure by the surf.Stone platforms right by the surf.An upright stone inside a ring of stones.Horses behind a wooden gate on open grassland – a week on horseback would be a dream.A toppled moai among rocks and a fish skeleton in a ring of stones.
