Visiting Easter Island (Land-Based)

Volcano Rano Kau and Orongo Village (continued)

The story continues after four pages of pictures.

The sheer cliffs at the edge of Rano Kau. These are the cliffs that natives descended as part of the Birdman ritual to retrieve a tern's egg from an offshore islet. At left you can see a man who is standing on the roof of one of the restored stone houses (this is permitted so you can observe some petroglyphs).		I took this picture while standing on the roof of the stone house, looking back towards the rest of the restored village.

Petroglyphs. The rocks are quite worn so it's hard to make out the symbols.

Three offshore islets, from top to bottom: Motu Nui, Motu Iti, Motu Kao Kao. During the Birdman ritual, after descending the cliffs, the natives swam to these islets to retrieve the tern's egg. Then they climbed back up the cliffs, hopefully without breaking the egg. At the top of the picture, you can just make out the island's supply ship steaming towards Hanga Roa. The ship was unable to unload cargo for several days, due to the heavy swell and onshore winds.