Rimatara

Rimatara is the smallest inhabited island of the Australs, low and rounded with three villages and a fringing reef, and its distinction is a bird: the Rimatara lorikeet, a small red and green parrot that survived here after disappearing from the other islands, protected by a local tapu that kept people from taking it. Birds from here were reintroduced to Atiu in the Cook Islands in 2007. Ship rats have never reached the island, which is why it survives.

Background

The island lies 550 kilometres south of Tahiti, with Rurutu 150 kilometres to the east. Rimatara is a round volcanic plateau with 8.6 square kilometres of land, rising to 106 metres, and a reef 8 to 10 metres high surrounds it. The Maria islets add another 1.3 square kilometres. Of the three main villages, Amaru is the capital, and the others are Anapoto and Mutuaura. The 2022 census counted 893 people. European ships reached Rimatara later than almost any other island in Polynesia. Captain Samuel Pinder Henry came upon it in 1811, and in 1822 a Christian mission was founded by two Tahitian missionaries who came from Bora Bora.

Source: Wikipedia, "Rimatara"

Highlights

• The Rimatara lorikeet - a parrot that survived here after vanishing elsewhere.
• The tapu - the local prohibition credited with protecting the bird.
• The rat-free status - the absence of ship rats that let the species hold on.
• The three villages - the settlements around the low island.

When to go

May to October is the dry season. Flights are infrequent and connections awkward. The island is cooler than Tahiti.

What to expect

Flights are few and getting there takes planning. There is almost no accommodation and no tourism infrastructure. Strict biosecurity applies on arrival to keep rats off the island.

Nearby

Rurutu is east, and Tahiti is northeast.

Key facts