Mangareva: Floating Mountain

At the far eastern territory of French Polynesia, near the Tuamotu, Gambier Archipelago consists mainly of high Mangareva and its belt of islands, remnants of scree slopes its crater.

An ensemble of low islands (or atolls) closed on their lagoon by a belt of coral.

Very few inhabitants (only 1100 inhabitants), much less seen, the island of Mangareva is a special world between heaven and ocean, which offers its visitors the most beautiful landscapes Polynesian:
rugged coastline, hills of gentle terrain falling in huge lagoons, fine white sandy beaches, beautiful motus haloed with light, soft and beautiful landscapes, unforgettable color of the sea, lush flowers, shrubs and fruit.

Closer, the magic explodes: the gradient of turquoise lagoons, purple and mauve coral reef flats flush the iridescent surface of a translucent jade water, stains yellow, red, orange, black roses in gardens submarines, and flashes pearly fish ...

Island & the wider world

For Paumotu (inhabitants Tuamotus and Gambier), the island was considered to be a Marine, stability provisionally as a single boat on the responsibility of men, which had no existence outside the society which inhabits it.

For them, moreover, was synonymous with extraordinary residence of the gods and the dead, where we can move not to discover but to recognize where the risks are essentially spiritual and not material: travel was to reconcile the local deities.
Loud, smart and resourceful, the Mangarevan are characterized by a tremendous will to survive in the midst of this vast ocean around them forever.

Today, they remained human beings to the robust physical constitution, often vegetarian, enjoying excellent health. On the affable and benevolent character, their only desire is to live in harmony with the surrounding sea. Therefore the dugout, much more than tiki island Marquise or marae of the Society Islands, remains the symbol and rallying point of Paumotu: it has always been more important for them to own a canoe rather than a house ...

If culture is rooted Paumotu the mythical origins of major browsers ancestors came from Asia who settled in the islands here are 3 000 years, Mangareva, it was a bit crowded later in the twelfth century only.
From oral tradition, the Polynesian culture has been passed from generation to generation over the centuries. Mangareva offers its visitors many archaeological remains high in the eighteenth century churches, rectories, convents, weaving, bread ovens and towers watch, etc..

Polynesian tradition: the art of building and flying fine outrigger canoes, ocean and lagoons!

Tattoo & Dance

From the eighteenth century, European sailors signalized practice of tattooing in Tahiti. Prohibited at the time of the missionaries, it did not disappear either. Support for cultural identity ma'ohi the Polynesian tattoo favors the use of black at the expense of color. D'inspiration geometric, plant or animal, often symbolic, as it is hoisted by men than by women as a body adornment. Thus, tattooing, unlike the approach "intimate" Western is made primarily to be seen.

Like tattoos, Tahitian dance, considered too erotic by missionaries, had to go into hiding until the early twentieth century ...

Within this tradition several thousand years that singers today draw accents beautiful hymns, sacred or profane, whose echoes are lost in the constant murmur of the ocean on the reef ...

Flowers: a lifestyle

The flowers are part of the culture and Polynesian life. They symbolize the festival, the pleasure and joy. The custom is that tiara necklaces are available at the start of the traveler wishing him luck. The flowers usually are the cause of many Polynesian legends. The tiare flower of Tahiti have been created with the aid of Tane, god of beauty.
At the time of Polynesian ancestors, only kings and princes could pick this sacred flower. Subsequently, the Tiara was only used as a symbol of love. In the Polynesian weddings, home and the bed of newlyweds were lined tiara for 30 days, the scent of the flowers allowed the young couple to reach the secret of fullness of God ...

Today, a Tiare flower in the left ear means that the heart is taken but, right, it remains to be taken.

Climate & Black Pearls

The Polynesian islands enjoy a tropical climate with sunshine, reaching nearly 3 000 hours of sunshine per year! The temperature, always pleasant, is cooled by the Pacific trade winds that blow throughout the year: on average, the air is 27 ° C, while water lagoons stabilizes around 26 ° C. ..

Significantly farther from the equator, the Gambier archipelago enjoys temperatures slightly cooler than Tahiti.  Thanks to this climate conducive to the cultivation of pearls, lagoons Mangarevan have always been exploited for their abundance of pearl oysters.

This activity continues even today, since MANGAREVA account important and famous pearl farms that provide the mainstay of the archipelago. Its inhabitants are engaged mainly because the production of black pearls that are reputed to be the most beautiful in Polynesia.