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Text, Videos and Photos: Ronian Carvalho
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Officially a two-hour walk away from Hanga Roa, the only village on Easter Island, the crater of the inactive Rano Kau volcano is one of the most easily accessible in the world. In addition to providing beautiful views of the entire island, the crater is located next to the ruins of the ceremonial village of Orongo, one of the most important places for the Rapa Nui people.
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| Policarpo Toro street |
In Hanga Roa just take the Policarpo Toro street (which lies between the west coast and the beginning of the airport runway) until the point where it turns left and it becomes Camino a Rano Kau. From there, drives must always follow the road up the slope of the volcano and reach the crater in a few minutes. Hikers will see, on the same road bend, a sign on the right that indicates the sendero a Rano Kau, a shortcut to the crater amidst the vegetation.
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| Sea view from the cave next to the beginning of the sendero a Rano Kau |
But, before going up to the volcano, it's worth walking a little to the right towards the sea to get to know one of the caves of the island. A fairly slippery stairway carved through the rocks leads to a cozy opening on the coastal cliff. There you can see spots on the inner rock that, combined with some notches, make visitors imagine different shapes. It's a good place to reflect on life while observing the infinite Pacific Ocean and feeling the rocky embrace of the island. But you have to be careful, because apparently part of the cave is underwater at high tide.
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Back to the climb to the crater of the Rano Kau, anyone who takes the trail passes through different stretches of vegetation. The first of them is a not very dense forest where there are trees of several types and sizes that give a semitropical air to that part of the island. As it's an area with some farms, it's necessary to pass among some fences. But the route is official according to tourism organizations and is well defined, being difficult to get lost there.
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View from the end of the sendero a Rano Kau
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After the forest there is a long stretch of grasses with a few twisted trees, which give an African-savannah look to the place. Along the way there are two resting places with benches under the slim shadows of these trees. After walking for a few minutes you can look back and see the entire village of Hanga Roa and nearly the full extent of the west coast of the island.
The windy crater of the Rano Kau volcano
The trail ends when it reaches the road of the Camino a Rano Kau. Just cross it and you're already at the viewpoint of the crater. Even those who already know the volcano by photo get impressed by the grandeur of the place. With about 1.5 km in diameter, this huge hole seems to be about to fall into the infinite blue of the sea at its side. A yellow-and-green-grass-patches-covered lake occupies the crater and gives it a look that some people, forcing their imaginations, call it "a world map". The slopes down to the lake are quite steep and are also covered with green and yellow grasses, and by a cluster of pink flowers at a certain point. A trail surrounds the entire crater rim on land and from some of its points it's possible to catch incredible views of the whole island. The wind is very strong at the crater so it's important to be careful for it not to carry cameras, cell phones and personal items away into the crater or into the sea.
West, east and south coasts of Easter Island seen from the rim of the crater of the Rano Kau volcano
When you get tired of being breathtaken at the grandeur of the Rano Kau, it's time to meet the ceremonial village of Orongo, which lies on the southwestern edge of the crater, about 300 meters above sea level. The village was built by the Rapa Nui people for the tangata manu ritual, in which their leaders were crowned. Challenging for any modern athlete, the bird-man ritual consisted of going down the rocky slopes of the island, throwing oneself into the sea, swimming about 3 km to Motu Nui Island, catching an egg of the manutara bird (similar to a seagull), which nests there, and going back to Orongo with it intact. The first to do it all was crowned ruler of the Rapa Nui people. Apparently from religious origin, many aspects of the ritual remain unknown.
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| Man-bird Island (Motu Nui) |
Currently there are only caves and ruins in Orongo, some of them with petroglyphs that give an even greater air of mystery to the place. However, in past there were several buildings with stone walls and thatched roofs where the Rapa Nui priests awaited the return of aspirants to rulers. In addition to the crater of the nearby Rano Kau, Motu Nui's view is impressive too. Whoever hears the story of the tangata manu ritual and sees that little piece of land in the vastness of the Pacific, immediately begins to wonder how much bravery was needed to climb the two islands twice, swim in the rough sea, and still look for a bird's egg.
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| Orongo's Petroglyphs |
Visitors are allowed to enter Orongo only once. The control is made by showing the entry ticket to the Rapa Nui National Park, purchased when landing at Mataveri Airport (in July 2017 it cost US$80 for foreigners). Just after having stamped it at the reception center of Orongo, the visitor can read the panels and informative maps of the small museum there and then get to know the ruins of the ceremonial village through the self-guided path of Orongo. Park rangers, many of them native, are always vigilant so that no smart visitors try to damage, take any historical vestige out of the place or do something dangerous. At the exit you can buy souvenirs about Orongo directly from the hands of some of the Rapa Nui artisans that are next to the parking lot. All in all, it's a tour for different tourist styles, from backpackers looking for stories and adventures, to classical tourists in floral t-shirts and carrying cameras on the shoulders.
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| Orongo: trails, grasses and ruins |
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