Easter Island is famous for its moai, which the Rapa Nui people carved from the volcanic rock of the Rano Raraku crater. However, visitors to Easter Island will also discover an equally captivating story at Orongo, a ceremonial village on the southern slopes of another volcano, Rano Kau.
Built on the crater's edge, above towering cliffs, the stone village offered members of the Birdman cult (tangata manu) a commanding 360-degree view of the crater lake and Pacific Ocean. Three islets visible from Orongo played a prominent role in the cult's most important ritual.
Orongo village is in Rapa Nui National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Therefore, all visitors must purchase and carry their park pass to enter. You must have a licensed guide, and like Rano Raraku, you may only visit Orongo once during your stay on Easter Island.
Here, I'll share our experience visiting Rano Kau and Orongo as part of a half-day guided tour. You'll learn about the origins of Orongo, the Birdman cult, and their annual death-defying competitions to choose new leaders. You'll also discover why the cult and its rituals disappeared from Easter Island.
Rano Kau Volcano
Let's begin with the 1,063-foot-tall Rano Kau Volcano, situated along the southern coast of Easter Island—the youngest rocks at this extinct volcano date from about 150,000 to 210,000 years ago.
Visitors can marvel at the freshwater lake and marsh in the caldera and snap epic photos from a lookout point along the road to Orongo's visitor center. At the southernmost edge of the volcano, you can see how the Pacific Ocean is slowly eating away at the crater, causing the walls to crumble.
From the lookout and in the photo below, you can pinpoint the village of Orongo, where the horizon over the ocean meets the crater's rim. Rano Kau's interior slopes range from 45 to 65 degrees.
The crater contains obsidian, a hard black volcanic glass used by the Rapa Nui stoneworkers to carve the moai statues at Rano Raraku Volcano at the northeastern end of Easter Island.
In addition to seeing the crater, the lookout at Rano Kau offers an excellent view north of Mataveri International Airport, the town of Hanga Roa, and Mount Terevaka, Easter Island's tallest volcano (1,664 feet).
You do not need a guide to see the crater. You can drive up if you have a rental car on Easter Island. Other options include cycling or hiking. We spent about 25 minutes here during our small group tour before continuing to Orongo at the southwestern edge of the crater.
Orongo Ceremonial Village
After the era of moai carving ended, the Rapa Nui people built and occupied the village of Orongo from the 18th to the mid-19th century.
Fifty-three elliptical stone houses were constructed on the outer slopes of Rano Kau above one-thousand-foot cliffs. Unlike the porous volcanic rocks used to carve the monumental moai, heavier, flat stones were used to build the village.
The choice of rock and low-profile design gave the structures a sturdy presence and protected them from the strong winds on the crater's exposed slopes. Sod roofs provided natural insulation, keeping the interiors cool, while the absence of windows further helped regulate the temperature.
Birdman Cult
Orongo was the ceremonial center for the Birdman cult of Easter Island, which emerged in the 16th century as a significant religious and political tradition, replacing the island's earlier focus on constructing moai statues.
Rooted in the worship of Makemake, the god of fertility and creation, the cult centered around an annual competition to determine the next “Tangata Manu” or Birdman.
The competition involved tribal representatives racing to retrieve the first egg laid by the sooty tern bird (manutara) on nearby Motu Nui, the largest of three islets south of Easter Island.
It may not look like much from the surface, but Motu Nui is the summit of a volcano rising about 6,500 feet from the sea floor. The sooty tern is a common migratory seabird that returns to land to breed and lay eggs. It's found in equatorial areas.
The Birdman competition was a dangerous, life-or-death race. Some men fell to their deaths while scrambling down steep cliffs to reach the ocean. Once in the water, others faced the threat of shark attacks or drowned from sheer exhaustion.
Watch the Kevin Costner-produced movie Rapa Nui (Amazon Prime) to get a feel for this race's extreme difficulty and intensity.
The individual who successfully returned with the egg (by swimming back and scaling the cliffs) secured immense power and prestige for their group. At the same time, the Tangata Manu held a position of spiritual authority for the following year.
Central to the Birdman cult were beliefs in divine intervention and the cyclical renewal of life, symbolized by the birds and their eggs. The cult's ceremonies also reinforced the social hierarchy, with tribal leaders vying for control over resources and influence.
Many petroglyphs depicting the Birdman cult's iconography were carved at Orongo, but unfortunately, many such priceless artifacts were removed during archaeology surveys.
The End of Orongo
By the mid-1800s, Europeans had discovered Easter Island and brought with them diseases, which killed off many of the Indigenous people. Peruvians had also begun traveling to Easter Island with the express purpose of enslaving the Rapa Nui people and bringing them back to Peru.
As few as 100 Rapa Nui people are believed to have survived this onslaught, and many were converted to Christianity. As a result, the ceremonial village of Orongo fell into disrepair. The last known Birdman competition is believed to have occurred in 1866 or 1867.
In 1868, the British crew of the HMS Topaze removed the 7-foot-tall, 4.2-ton Hoa Hakananai'a moai from Orongo and took it to England. The birdman and sooty tern are carved into the basalt moai. Today, the moai remains on display at the British Museum despite a formal request by the Governor of Easter Island in 2018 that it be returned.
Orongo's cultural and architectural significance makes it a must-see for visitors to Easter Island. Perched atop the stunning Rano Kau volcano, it offers more than just breathtaking views—it's the best place to truly appreciate the history of the Birdman cult and the annual race that took place there.
Dave is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Go Backpacking and Feastio. He's been to 66 countries and lived in Colombia and Peru. Read the full story of how he became a travel blogger.
Planning a trip? Go Backpacking recommends:
- G Adventures for small group tours.
- Hostelworld for booking hostels.
