Lava Caves of Easter
Island 
Sandra and I had visited
Chile about four years ago and Easter Island was on our bucket list then but
time and other priorities prevented us from visiting on that occasion.
However this spring we had another
opportunity to visit and on the final week of our trip to South America we flew
to the island, primarily to see he spectacular statues of the Moai.
On our last full day on
the island we decided to head up the west coast on a small road to visit the
remaining Moai site we had not visited, unfortunately the batteries in my
camera gave out and so it was back to the hostel for replacements, luckily not
too far. Instead of retracing our route
we decided to drive up the coast on a dirt track to visit a small lava tube
cave which we had seen on the map. We parked at the small car park, showed our
national park pass and after walking up another small track arrived at the cave
in twenty minutes only to discover we had left our torches in the car, Sandra
volunteered to head back and fetch them. The cave is called Ana Kakenga and is only about 50m
long and entered through a tight squeeze hole in the ground with cut rock to restrict
access in ancient times, but soon opens up into a 10 metre wide and 3 metre
high tube, strewn with boulders. The passage soon splits and there are two openings
onto the cliff edge which look out to sea and the islet of Moto Tautara.
Strangely when inside it has the feel of a normal limestone cave but of course
it’s not, it’s a lava tube.
Ana Kakenga entrance
... passage
... more passage
...and view out to sea
After this short visit and
we visited another much larger lava tube on the way to our Moai location. This cave
called Ana Te Pahu and is much more impressive, It is the largest cave
on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and was
an ideal location to live in primitive times It still has several Amu (Moai platforms) and an old kitchen system starting with a large
shakehole filled with banana trees. The tube here is about 20m wide and 5
metres high with several low sections in places and meanders along, often with
skylight openings along its length as it’s only a couple of metres below the
surface all the way along its length. Again this tube is boulder strewn and
gives the impression of a normal limestone cave.
It is much longer than the
first cave we visited being an estimated 300 metres long and ending in a
blocked tube. At the bottom end of the cave there is a prominent inlet with an
impressive lava flow entering and a couple of smaller tubes can be seen along
its length.
There are quite a few
other locations of lava tube caves on the island which we didn't visit, but
these two made an interesting end to a fabulous visit to Easter Island.
Mel Wilkinson
Ana Te Pahu... entrance ... Ahu platforms ... inlet and lava flow ... skylight
