- Location: Easter Island, 20 km from the city of Honga-Roa;
- Height above sea level: 150 meters.
Early Räraku is one of the attractions of Easter Island , a small islet that is lost in the South Pacific. This is a very secluded and mysterious place. It is solitary because there is nothing for 2000 kilometers around, only the ocean. To get to the island from South America by plane, you need to spend 5 hours. The question arises, how did the ancient people find themselves here? And they lived on the island from time immemorial and left traces of their activities.
General information
The volcano of Early Raraku is extinct, its height is 150 meters. This is the secondary volcano Maung Terevaka, the hills of Easter Island. The volcano is located in the eastern part of the island at a distance of 1 kilometer from the coast and 20 kilometers from the city of Anga Roa . In the crater of the volcano there is a lake with fresh water, on the shore of which the reeds grew. The lake surrounds as a donut a breed of volcanic origin - tuff. From a bird's-eye view you can see that the bagel of the volcano is broken. This is due to the fact that there are quarries. Tuff is a rather soft material, suitable for cutting statues out of it. These statues, scattered all over the island and represent the main mystery of the island of Easter.
Flora Rano-Raraku is also poor, like the whole Easter Island. The only thing that the volcano can boast is dry grass, which has an amazing sweetish smell. Climbing the slope you can also see huge dry stumps looking out from under the grass. This is evidence that once there was a dense forest, which probably was destroyed by local residents several centuries ago. The trees prevented moving huge statues from the quarry to the places designated for them, so it was decided to break them.
Riddles of Early Ranak
Moai - the so-called huge monolithic sculptures, carved mainly from tufa, basalt and red slag. They are human figures, some of them reach a height of 10 meters and weigh more than 80 tons. It is believed that they are carved approximately in the period from 1250 to 1500 years. However, the age of the statues is not fixed. All the statues are distinguished by large heads with a large nose and square chin, with slits instead of eyes. One of the archaeological expeditions discovered that in the eye sockets there should have been corals with pupils of slag. Their bodies are without hands and without legs. Many of them have big strange hats on their heads. Scattered idols as on the slope of the volcano Rano Rarak, and throughout the island. This raises many questions and attracts tourists and researchers.
An excursion to the slopes of Rano Raraku is the goal of many travelers. Those who have ever seen statues of idols, will never believe that these savage tribes carved them and, most importantly, scattered all over the island. No answer. How there is no answer to the question who built the pyramids and what for. Some moai are ready and installed on slabs, some lie on the ground, some are not completely finished. Impression that the work stopped overnight. It is believed that the front of the statue was carved right in the rock, then moved to the right place and ended the back. But how could they move tens of tons? Legends say that the statues themselves went. No answer to this day.
How to get to Rano Rárak?
Tourists wishing to visit the volcano Rano Raraku usually settle in the town of Anga Roa . This is quite far from the goal, so some live in tents on the beach. Getting there by car from Anga Roa is not difficult, it's easy to reach by directions. Two roads lead to the quarry, one runs along the ocean, but in the end both roads merge. It is impossible to get lost.
In Rano, you can get there from 9.30 to 18.00. There is a ticket that can be purchased at the airport for 60 USD or 30,000 pesos.