Amazing Places: The Mysterious Easter Island

There are few places on earth that manage to fascinate people as much as the Easter Island, or Rapa Nui. Not only because of the giant stone busts lying around the island, but also because it is one of the most isolated places on earth. And since isolation and mystery go hand in hand, naturally the Easter Island ended up drawing a lot of attention, not only from archaeologists but from tourists as well. Rapa Nui can only be described as spellbinding, and it is one of those places that you can never forget, once you see them.

Archaeologists don’t know much about the ancient history of the Easter Island except that it used to be inhabited by a brilliant civilization. The first settlers of the island, who supposedly came from Polynesia, must have found a paradise in Rapa Nui, but since the island is so far from any other land and once you got there, you were more or less stuck, overpopulation took its toll on the place.

The only things that these people left behind are the moai, the giant stone busts that we can see on the island today. The moai are depictions of the ancestors, archaeologists believe, and they played a big part in the religion of the people of Rapa Nui. The glory days of Rapa Nui ended when the island’s resources started to dwindled, disagreements broke out among the people, and the surrounding continental nations began to raid the island. Many of the moai were toppled by humans, probably during fights among the different groups on the island.  By the last century, only a few hundred Rapa Nui natives were left on the island.

Nowadays, the Rapa Nui National Park has is one of the UNESCO designated world heritage sites, and the islanders survive mostly on tourism. Despite its apparent remoteness, there are many commercial flights linking Rapa Nui to Chile, precisely because tourism is so important to the island. The landmarks that attract most tourists to the Easter Islands are, of course, the moai.

These towering stone heads are more fragile than they look, and they are universally treated like archaeological relics. The busts are sometimes places on large stone platforms called ahu. It is not unusual for moai to be placed at burial places, so walking on the ahu can be perceived as an extremely impolite gesture. Most of the moai can be found on the coasts of the island, are there is no fee for visiting the sites.

The Rano Raraku volcanic crater is one of the must-visit places on Rapa Nui, because it is considered to be the birth place of the moai. The stone for the statues was taken from the quarries in Rano Raraku, and the hillside is littered with moai in various stages of carving. This slope is the most dramatic place on the island, and probably one of the most striking places on the entire planet.

And while the moai are the most impressive sights on the island, there are some other things that you can do in Rapa Nui. Scuba diving and snorkeling are popular activities, and so is horse riding and hiking. In fact, the best spots on the island can only be reached on foot, so be prepared and bring some good hiking boots with you!

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