Tahiti Island & Culture

Tahiti is a mountainous island dominated by the peak of mount Orohena (2,241m) and standing alongside the other famous silhouettes of Aorai (2,066m), Diadem (1,321m), a name given Domont d’ Urville, and mount Marau (1,493 m).The capital city Papeete is situated on the northwest coast with a harbor sheltered by reefs. The city of Papeete, which is the political and economic heart of the country, stretches round a narrow coastal strip, and up the mountain side in the north and in the west of the island that are now being covered by luxury residences.

In the form of a huge circle, the big island Tahiti Nui is ciss-crossed by deep, beautiful valleys and is connected to the equally mountainous little Tahiti Iti, by the narrow Taravao isthmus.The mountains of Tahiti offers curious visitors charming walks in natural valleys of light and shade in the cathedral of fern trees.

You will see impressive waterfalls and discover mysterious grottoes and archaeological sites steeped in legend. The high valley of the Papenoo river which leads to the Maroto pass and to the Vaihiria crater lake (whose eels have ears!), together with the nature reserve of the Fenua ai’ here and its coastal cliffs at Pari on the Peninsula, will awaken a sense of marvel in hikers and those who love wild and unadulterated nature.

The rocky coastline on the west side of Tahiti has spectacular views and long black sand beaches of basaltic origin swept by ideal surfing waves. The road twists and winds its way past splendid gardens with their hibiscus hedges, with auti (cordylines), with bougainvillea or birds of paradise, sometimes under the shade of majestic breadfruit trees whose fruits were at the heart of the story of “Mutiny on the Bounty”

The first recorded settlers of the Marquesas were Polynesians, who, from archæological evidence, are believed to have arrived before 100 AD. Ethnological and linguistic evidence suggests that they likely arrived from the region of Tonga and Samoa.

As the cradle of the Maohi civilization that spread throughout the Polynesian triangle, the Marquesas Islands have preserved imposing relics of the past along with their living cultural traditions. Their tiki, carved stones and marae, sacred religious sites, built of raised and aligned stones, or stones arranged into pyramids are to be seen throughout the islands. The renewal of interest in the traditional arts can be seen in the development of the art of tattooing which was originally practiced for esthetic reasons as a social symbol.

This renaissance can also be seen in the burgeoning of interest in the dance and polyphonic song forms, "himene tarava , or "ruau ", which truly express the depth of the soul of Polynesian people. This intense cultural re-awakening can be felt in the many performances that occur around the amazing Heiva time in July where groups of up to 150 participants compete in musical production, choreography and costuming. And poetry reclaims it ancient noble status in the art of declaiming orero, an age-old oral tradition, accompanied by the pure sounds of the vivo, the nose flute.