Ahu Tongariki
We left the ancient volcano of Rano Raraku for a short drive down to a flat plain near the ocean and Ahu Tongariki. Ahu Tongariki has the largest ahu, or platform, on the island. The ahu is about 200 feet long. Ahu Tongariki has the most statues “in place” of any location on Easter Island. It has fifteen statutes. All the moai were toppled when the first Europeans arrived. Then, in 1960, a tsunami hit here and washed these statues over three hundred feet inland. Mind you, some of these statues weigh over thirty tons with the biggest weighing in at some 86 tons. They were all restored and reset in their original place during a five year project in the 1990's. It must have been quite a job to restore all fifteen statues at this site. This is one of the most dramatic settings for the moai on the island.
I took the first photo while still on the side of the Rano Raraku volcano.
