Safari to the Tiki site in Puamau

Anastasia
Phil May and Andrea Twigg
Wed 28 Mar 2012 22:32
On Friday we rented a jeep to drive to the Tiki site at Puamau.
 
The road started out fine, it was actually paved as far as the airport and then became hard-pack for a while.  We came across some horses left to graze along the road.
And a mother and baby hiding in the forest.
Gradually the road surface deteriorated.  Paul, the ARC rep, had told us the road was a bit poor in some places, and eventually we were glad to have a four wheel drive vehicle with a low gear selector.  We came to sections which were basically a goat track with some gravel thrown down here and there.  Literally a goat track, there are a lot of feral goats on the island hanging around the hillsides.  They got out of the way pretty quickly when we came along.  Here is an example of a bay we had to drive through, with the track cutting around the headland in the foreground.
We stopped off for lunch on the way, at the only restaurant on that side of the island.  Traditional Polynesian fare, wild goat in coconut milk, roast wild pig, raw fish marinaded in lime juice and breadfruit chips, with starfruit juice to drink.  Very tasty.
 
Finally we got to the Tiki site.  Takaii here is the largest Tiki in the Marquesas.
And here Andrea is patting a Tiki dog.