Orongo

Orongo stands on the narrow rim between the Rano Kau crater and a sheer drop to the sea, a group of some fifty low houses built of stone slabs with turf roofs, used seasonally for the tangata manu - the birdman contest. Each spring, competitors' servants climbed down the cliff, swam to the islet of Motu Nui through water with sharks in it, waited for the first sooty tern egg of the season, and swam back with it intact; the sponsor of the winner became birdman for the year with the authority that carried. The practice replaced the moai-centred order and ran into the nineteenth century. Petroglyphs of birdmen cover the rocks.

History

Between the 18th and mid-19th centuries Orongo was the centre of the birdman cult, whose annual race to bring the first sooty tern egg back unbroken from the islet of Motu Nui was so dangerous that hunters often fell from the cliff or were killed by sharks; many of the petroglyphs of birdmen may commemorate winners. In the 1860s most of the islanders died of disease or were enslaved, and once the survivors converted to Christianity the village fell out of use; in 1868 the crew of HMS Topaze removed the basalt moai Hoa Hakananai'a from Orongo, and it is now in the British Museum. In 1974, in a project sponsored by UNESCO and supervised by William Mulloy with the Rapa Nui archaeologist Sonia Haoa Cardinali, half of the village's 53 stone houses were investigated and restored, and the rest followed in 1976 (Wikipedia, Orongo).

What's there

• Fifty stone houses on a cliff rim - between the crater and the sea.
• The birdman contest - a swim to an islet for the first tern egg.
• A system that replaced the moai order - and ran into the 1800s.
• Birdman petroglyphs - carved across the rocks at the site.

When to go

Year round. Half a day.

Practical notes

A guide is required and the route is a fixed one-way path. Wind on the rim is severe and it is fully exposed. The houses cannot be entered. The park ticket allows a limited number of visits to this site.

Nearby

Rano Kau crater is beside it; Hanga Roa is down the hill.

Key facts