Private North Coast Hike Ancient World of Easter Island

Sometimes known as the "two windows cave". The ancient people modified the natural entrance to this cave with rocks, leaving only a small rabbit hole in the ground to enter through. The short, pitch black tunnel opens up to a larger chamber and splits into two openings from the cliffs, overlooking the ocean.

The inhabitants of this cave sure had a sense for cleanliness. Ana Te Pora has one big open, clean space with a table in the middle and beds along the sides.

The isolated location of the village of Te Peu has left its archaeological remains untouched. Many hare paenga, or "boat houses", of good condition can be seen here - all built around and facing the two great ahu platforms in the lower parts of the area. In such a complete village it is not hard to imagine the every day life of its former inhabitants.

Ma'itaki Te Moa: The valley of Ma'itaki Te Moa is a settlement with a few hare paenga and a very interesting ahu. The back of this wall is made by rocks of a remarkable size and well cut rectangular blocks. An even more astonishing feature of the ahu of Ma'itaki Te Moa is an entire moai statue that, in spite of its perfect condition, has been used as a building block for the monument, instead of standing on top of it. This statue is one of the few moais that is not made out of the yellowish tuff from the main statue quarry Rano Raraku.

Vai Matā: The inhabitants of this astounding village had extraordinary ambition and creativity, and perfection was their only acceptable result. Here we find the largest statue of the whole north coast area. The ahu is made from huge blocks, cut with a nearly unmatched precision and care for a perfect fit. The "boat houses" of Vai Matā are noteworthy for being exceptionally well preserved, though one house stands out more than any other: Ana O Haro. This is a man-made subterranean dwelling, built like a cave from recycled boat house foundation blocks.

Omohi: The tribe that lived here had a thing for remembering events. Several petroglyphs - markings in rocks - can be found here.

Ana o Heu: Also known as the Make-Make cave. Petroglyphs is surprisingly uncommon in caves of Rapa Nui, but this small dwelling has the ceiling covered in carved images of the creator god Make-Make.

Black basalt moai: This is one of the very few moai statues that were made out of hard basaltic rock instead of the much softer tuff.

Ahu Atanga: This is one of the most perfectly astronomically aligned constructions of Rapa Nui, pointing to the astronomical north with an extreme precision, only 0.2° off. Ahu Atanga is located in the northernmost tip of the island and is the biggest ahu poe-poe (ramp shaped ahu) of Easter Island with its 25 m in length.

Hanga O Teo: This is historically an important bay, since it is one of the few places that has easy access to the ocean. Here are several ancient constructions left behind by the tribesmen that lived here.

Ana Papa Tekena: This small cave just by the ocean has a quite peculiar shape, like a tunnel that extrudes from the ground.

End this journey through time at the most tropical and relaxing beach of Easter Island - Anakena. Have something to eat and drink or have a well-deserved swim in the refreshing ocean.