Sunday, April 24, 2011

The Aura of the Statues on the Beach

On Easter Island there are hundreds of statues, called Moai, located at many places around the island. These are the Moai located at the beach at Taharoa on the northeast side of the Island. As you can see from this photo, the statues here are right on a sandy beach.
This close up photo of one of the moai shows the long fingers of his hand carved around the base of the statute.
There are only two beaches on Easter Island that are good for swimming. This is one of them. The rest of the coastline is rocky because the terrain is volcanic. Easter Island is only about 12 miles (18 km) long and 8 miles (12 km) wide at its widest spot, and it is one of the most isolated inhabited places on earth, more than 2,000 miles (3,000 km) from Chile and 700 miles (1,050 km) from Pitcarin Island.
Each statue is unique. The faces are different. They apparently had different taste in hats.
Easter Island has lots of hiking trails past volcanos, statues, and wildflowers. There are not many trees because the island was deforested when it was used for sheep herding for most of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

6 comments:

glenda said...

The fingers around the base are really strange looking. Such an interesting place to visit.

Lisa Wilson said...

Amazing photos! I've never know anyone that traveled there. What a great place!

Gunn said...

Wow, these images are SUPERB!:)

Anonymous said...

Excellent.Must visit.

Lowell said...

At the risk of sounding redundant, these are some of the best photos I've ever seen of Easter Island!

Your commentary is also most interesting and fun! Different hats, indeed!

I've heard Easter Island is in some danger, however, from the number of tourists that visit every year. Is that true?

Unknown said...

Definitely one of my favourite posts. All shots are brilliant! Best compositions of Easter Island ever.

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