Rano Raraku

Rano Raraku is the workshop where the island's mythology was made. The soft volcanic tuff of this single crater was the source of almost all the 900-plus moai found on Easter Island, and nearly 400 statues are still here — abandoned at every stage between rough block and finished figure. Some have made it onto temporary platforms partway down the slope, where they appear to be walking towards the coast; others lie in unfinished trenches on the flank of the volcano, with chisel marks still visible.

A path winds up the outer slope and over the rim into the crater, where a freshwater lake is ringed by yet more statues, including a kneeling moai unique on the island. The full circuit takes around two hours. Park rangers are strict about staying on the marked paths — the ground is fragile and the statues are slowly being eroded by visitor traffic.

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A story
Almost every moai on the island was carved here, on the slopes of a single volcanic crater. Nearly 400 statues remain in place — some standing in the grass with only their heads above ground, some half-emerged from the rock, one 21 metres long lying on its back, unfinished. The carvers walked off the job and never came back.