Makatea
After leaving Bora Bora in the Society Islands yesterday, we traveled 400 kilometres to the east and arrived in the Tuamotu Islands this morning. During our morning at sea we were introduced to human travel through this region in two presentations. The first, by Edmundo Edwards, explained how Polynesians moved through and populated the islands of the Pacific. The second, a film by our National Geographic Expert John Bowermaster, recounted his more recent journey by cargo vessel through the Tuamotus.
The Tuamotus are the largest cluster of atolls in the world, strung out over 2,000 km of the South Pacific, but with a land area of only 850 square kilometers. The archipelago comprises mainly atolls, but our first visit in the group is to an island of a different geological origin. Any raised coral island is known as a makatea island. Hence, our destination for today – the island of Makatea. About 7 kilometres long and roughly pear-shaped, the island has a maximum elevation of 100 metres and is home to about 80 people. That this has declined from a peak of several thousand in the middle of the 20th century is a story of the boom and bust of a major economy on this remote island. Once mined for valuable phosphate deposits used in the manufacture of fertilizers, these deposits were exhausted by 1966, the industry collapsed and most of the people left. Today, all that is left of the huge operation is the industrial archaeology – the remains of the wharf and loading towers, the rails and engines that once transported the phosphate to the dock.
In the afternoon, we made a landing on this remote island. Once onshore we had the chance to explore the remains of the phosphate industry, while some hiked to the far side of the island and searched for some of the unusual wildlife to be found, such as coconut crabs (pictured). Birders were in luck, with three species endemic to (only found in) the Tuamotus; one of them, the Makatea fruit-dove, can only be found on this one island.
After leaving Bora Bora in the Society Islands yesterday, we traveled 400 kilometres to the east and arrived in the Tuamotu Islands this morning. During our morning at sea we were introduced to human travel through this region in two presentations. The first, by Edmundo Edwards, explained how Polynesians moved through and populated the islands of the Pacific. The second, a film by our National Geographic Expert John Bowermaster, recounted his more recent journey by cargo vessel through the Tuamotus.
The Tuamotus are the largest cluster of atolls in the world, strung out over 2,000 km of the South Pacific, but with a land area of only 850 square kilometers. The archipelago comprises mainly atolls, but our first visit in the group is to an island of a different geological origin. Any raised coral island is known as a makatea island. Hence, our destination for today – the island of Makatea. About 7 kilometres long and roughly pear-shaped, the island has a maximum elevation of 100 metres and is home to about 80 people. That this has declined from a peak of several thousand in the middle of the 20th century is a story of the boom and bust of a major economy on this remote island. Once mined for valuable phosphate deposits used in the manufacture of fertilizers, these deposits were exhausted by 1966, the industry collapsed and most of the people left. Today, all that is left of the huge operation is the industrial archaeology – the remains of the wharf and loading towers, the rails and engines that once transported the phosphate to the dock.
In the afternoon, we made a landing on this remote island. Once onshore we had the chance to explore the remains of the phosphate industry, while some hiked to the far side of the island and searched for some of the unusual wildlife to be found, such as coconut crabs (pictured). Birders were in luck, with three species endemic to (only found in) the Tuamotus; one of them, the Makatea fruit-dove, can only be found on this one island.
