Visiting Easter Island (Land-Based)

Walking Back From Orongo

Panoramic view looking northeast from Rano Kau. You can see the scattered dwellings of Hanga Roa below. Between Rano Kau and Hanga Roa, you can see a faint horizontal line, which is only a small portion of the huge runway at Mataveri Airport. You can see the ocean at both sides of this picture. In the background next to the left-hand ocean is the broad hump of Maunga Terevaka. Next to the ocean faintly visible at right, and way in the background, is Maunga Pukatikei on the Poike Peninsula (about 12 miles away). You can click on this picture to enlarge it (166 kb); use your browser's "back" command to return here.

After walking around the park, I exited the gate (it's fenced to keep range animals out) and started walking back down the hardpacked dirt road towards Hanga Roa. I stopped many times to take pictures: scenic landscapes, crater shots and panoramas, distant views of Hanga Roa, and close-ups of flowers and plants. A few vehicles passed and I saw a surprising number of people walking. I could see walking back downhill, but some people were walking uphill, too. I'm sure they were pretty tired at the end of their day.

I believe these are a type of Butterfly Weed, Ascelpias tuberosa.

These seedpods are from the same kind of plant.