World cruise 11 - Margaret

From Margaret
Tahiti
Papeete
Papenoo River Valley

Off we went in the back of a 4-wheel drive truck for whatever "wilds" there were in the interior of Tahiti – or at least in the Papenoo River valley. The headwaters of the Papenoo are high in the volcanic mountains of Tahiti. According to our guide, it used to be a completely wild river in which the Tahitians would fly fish for trout. The valley also contains a lot of archaeological remains as the original Polynesians lived along the ridge tops and any other little patch of relatively level land they could carve out.

In the 1990s the French government dammed the Papanoo river high in the mountains creating a huge lake, and installed 7 hydroelectric dams along its length to the sea. Today, it provides half of the electricity used in Tahiti. The cost, however, was a major change in the river eco-system. The river itself has been channeled and the land along the banks opened for farming. The trout are gone – something about access to the sea being lost. That part wasn't quite clear.

The road leading up into the Papenoo River turns right off the main circum-island highway and is paved. Deceptive beginnings!! It turned to a dirt road fairly quickly that was well rutted and pot-holed. Some of the pot-holes seemed big enough to almost swallow the truck. Our guide, who had quite a sense of humor, negotiated his way through these rather skillfully. It definitely lived up to the promise of a "jolting" ride.

The name Papenoo means "valley of a thousand waterfalls". Due to the recent heavy rains there were more waterfalls than usual. We could have stopped every few yards to photograph another one. Once we were well into the valley, we had to cross the Papenoo. Use the bridge? Oh no, that would be too easy. We crossed on a concrete strip just under the surface of the water. Whether or not our guide really had a bit of trouble getting out of the river and up the far bank is open to question – given his sense of humor. On the plus side, the river is really beautiful at eye level from within its middle.

On up the potholed road and around sharp curves, we passed waterfall after waterfall not to mention bananas, palms, and a huge variety of other trees and plants Maybe halfway into our trip we stopped at a partially restored Polynesian "religious" site. The Tikis have all been removed to a museum, but the stone platform has been restored and a tall marker put where the main Tiki would have stood. The area surrounding the Tiki platform had the appearance of having been paved with cut blocks of volcanic stone (although the grass had grown up through them).

The mountains on either side of this valley were huge and very vertical. It seemed almost impossible that vegetation of any kind could even grow on them, they were so steep. One part of this valley wall belonged to the original volcanic crater wall – it was particularly vertical.

We passed by at least three of the hydroelectric generators. The most interesting one had a larger dam than the others with a long spillway. This spillway also served as a segment of the valley road. So, once again, we drove through several inches of running water – made a really good splash for anyone watching.

The last stop we made was a sharp knoll on the edge of the ocean. On top of the knoll was an ancient pine which our guide told us one would find only along the ocean shores as it requires salt water. Interesting tree, the needles were long and fine enough to be lacy. The view of the ocean from this point was spectacular. It was not a good swimming area, however. No beach and the underwater surface seemed to be mostly coral and volcanic rock against which the ocean crashed.

The homes in Tahiti, as with the other Polynesian islands, so far, were colorful with every inch planted to fruits and flowers. Haven't yet mentioned the ubiquitous Polynesian chickens. They are small like bantams and are everywhere. Apparently they are "protected" – at least they aren't eaten, except for their eggs. Their job is to eat the poisonous centipedes (ugly creatures – saw one on Nuku Hiva).

On to the next adventure ….