|
Nuku Hiva, with 127 sq. miles of surface area, is the
largest island in the Marquesas archipelago. Its beauty from the sea or from
high above the islands is truly breathtaking. Nuku
Hiva is the main island in the northern archipelago with the town of
Taiohae serving as the administrative and economic centre. It is best
known for its 550 metre Ahuii waterfall in the Hakaui Valley. With 330 sq km ( 127 sq
miles)
of surface area, it is the largest island in the Marquises archipelago.
Its beauty from the sea or high above the island is truly breathtaking.
The 2,100 inhabitants live in Taiohae, Taipivai, Hatiheu, Aakapa, Pua
Houmi, Anaho and Hakaui, where they work for the government, the community,
Catholic church or school system or for themselves - chopping copra high
in the mountains, fishing, raising cattle and other livestock, or
sculpting bowls, platters, Marquesan ceremonial clubs, tiki's and ukuleles.
Taiohae is a pleasant village bordering the sea. It is the administrative,
economic, educational and health center of the Marquises Islands. Here are
the French and Territorial administrators the government
buildings,gendarmerie, post office, general hospital, town hall, Air
Tahiti office, banks, schools, well-stocked stores and shops.
Sundays and holidays are just as busy as any work day, when the villagers
drive back and forth along the seafront road in their 4-wheel drive
vehicles, calling out to their friends, and stopping to join the on going
game of petanque or French bowls, played under a flowering flamboyant tree
in front of the town hall. Nearby the women sit under a shelter and win
money playing bingo.
Highlights
- MUAKE HILL ,
(864 m.) 2,834 ft. high, offers a nice view of the whole bay of Taiohae.
The Cathedral of Notre Dame contains sculptures, magnificently carved by
artisans from each of the Marquises Islands. Socredo Bank also has
carvings on display. Most of the Taiohae sculptors have their workshops
behind the village.
- HAKAUI Valley
is 15 km. (9 miles) from Taiohae on the southern
coast. Hike inland to bathe in the refreshing pool of the 350 m. (1,148
ft.) high AHUII waterfall, one of the world's highest cascades.
- TAIPIVAI
, made famous in Herman Melville's book "Typee"
is 16km. (10 miles) from Taiohae, reached by boat or over the high plateau
of TOOVII. The Taipivai Valley is one of the largest and most fertile
valleys in Nuku Hiva, and has numerous waterfalls, a long river, and one
of the best preserved archaeological sites, in the Marquises, including
several tiki.
- HATIHEU Bay
on the northern coast was a favorite of the Scottish
writer Robert Louis Stevenson. At the top of one of the green peaks,
bordering the bay is a statue of the Virgin Mary, 300 m. (984 ft.) above
the sea. In the valley is the Naniuhi tohua a meeting place for the pre-
Christian Marquesans, including a dance platform, ceremonial stones and
petroglyphs carved in boulders.
- ANAHO Bay
is one of the loveliest spots in the Marquises Islands,
with only half a dozen families living in the valley. Perhaps the smallest
Catholic church in the Marquises Islands is built in Anaho constructed of
a thatch roof and coconut log stools, with a white sand floor There is a
golden sand beach and good swimming.
For
more general information
on French Polynesia, go to: |
