Ahu Ko Te Riku
Coral eyes.
LBM1948 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jucar1967 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · LBM1948 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bjørn Christian Tørrissen — CC BY-SA 3.0
An archaeological complex on the grass by the sea at the edge of Hanga Roa, the island's only town, with three side-by-side platforms: Ahu Vai Uri with five moai of different sizes, Ahu Tahai with a single statue, and Ahu Ko Te Riku with a statue wearing a red pukao and eyes of white coral and dark stone, the only moai on the island with its eyes restored. The platforms were restored in the late 1960s, and beside them are an old stone ramp for launching canoes and foundations of ancient boat-shaped houses that hint at village life. Tahai is the island's favourite sunset spot, when the sun sinks into the ocean behind the statues, turning them into silhouettes against an orange sky as visitors and islanders sit on the grass. The island's anthropological museum is a few steps away. Visitors walk there from central Hanga Roa. Never touch the statues or step on the platforms, which islanders hold sacred and the law protects.
Coral eyes.
Silhouettes over the sea.
Steps away.
Northern edge of Hanga Roa town, Easter Island
At Ahu Tahai on the edge of Hanga Roa, as the sun sinks into the ocean behind the moai.