In the jungle

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The island of Tahiti is of volcanic origin and has several high peaks, about 2000 m at it's maximum. From the sea level circular street it goes rapidly up the moment you turn inwards. When we first arrived at the island we got fascinated directly by the mountains that arise majestically, all covered with thick green and the tops disappearing in the clouds.

Martin could not help but test himself with a little running tour, 300 m up on a distance of 3 km. Add 30°C in the bright sun and you get a really exhausted man! The next day we took the car up to look at the view and our little engine could hardly make it! The views are however stunning wherever you can catch them. There is a reef surrounding the island in some metres distance and you can clearly see the waves breaking on the outside and the calm lagoon on the inside. And between you and the sea: the jungle.

On our second day we visited an archaeological site, a so called Marae. Black lava stones marked the remainder of a sacred place with one large and several smaller alters. A couple of red carved figures were added on top. We were however much more fascinated by all the vegetation aground the site. Palm trees the hight of a sky scraper. Bananas and coco nuts growing everywhere. Large flowers in bright colours covering gigantic trees that we never saw before. Plants that we grow in pots at home, here in large scale. The local tourists looked a little amused when we were photographing the surrounding, enthusiastically turning away from the main attraction.

We would have loved to get really up to the roof of this fantastic island but did not have the time to make it (two days for a hiking trip). The highest we got was to a restaurant at 600 m. Also here our poor car had to work hard. The street up was extremely rocky and winded and we were wondering if there could really be human life up there. The trees reached several metres above us, lianas were hanging down to the street. Once up we could see that people lived several hundreds of metres above sea level, having their own little acre and some chicken. Also a lot of very fancy houses are situated high in order to fully enjoy the fantastic views above the ocean and the neighbour island Moorea. And above it, beneath it, around it - the jungle covering every square metre of the cliffy mountain with it's trees and ferns, looking as if it just flowted down with the lava in ancient times.

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