Moai Quarry

All the awesome moai around Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, had to come from some where. That location is a quarry near Ahu Tongariki in the north called Rano Raraku. There are over 400 moai on the side of the mountain, some of which were never cut free from the rock. It’s fascinating to see how they were carved into the rock and then eventually cut out.

The park is the other single entry location, just like Orongo. We drove up a second time and took many of the long distance shots of the mountain from our second visit.

Many of these have their bodies partially buried in the earth. The full walk is nearly an hour and some of the steps are quite steep and precarious.

It began to rain when we were at the farthest point from the car. Ah well, it was a warm rain that passed quickly.

Near the kneeling moai you can see Ahu Tongariki.

The unfinished moai are incredible. I can’t figure out who looked at the mountain and saw all those figures in the rock and was able to convince all his friends to help carve them out. That’s some leadership.

I love these guys.

The carvings are unbelievable. The ability to create these works of art using primitive tools and then move them all over the island is beyond my imagination. I’d love to know how they did it.

~ Freddy