Facts at a Glance
Full Name: French Polynesia
Area: 5 million sq km (land area: 3675 sq km)
Population: 216,000 (Tahiti pop: 130,000)
Capital City: Papeete
People: 83% Polynesians (Maohis), 12% Europeans, 5% Asians
Language: Tahitian and French
Religion: 55% Protestant, 30% Catholic, 6% Mormon, 2% Seventh-Day Adventist, 2% Buddhist and Confucianist
Government: French Polynesia is an overseas territory of the Republic of France
President: Gaston Flosse
The 118 islands of French Polynesia are specks in the vast South Pacific Ocean. They are divided into five groups: the Society Islands (which include Tahiti), the Tuamotus, the Marquesas, the Australs and the Gambiers. Only six of the islands are larger than 100 sq km, and the northernmost island, Hatutu, is more than 2000km from the southernmost island, Rapa. The nearest continental land masses are Australia, 5200km to the west, and South America, 6000km to the east. The territory's nearest Pacific neighbour is the Cook Islands, to the west.
Kids grinning, Takapoto, Tuamotus (25K)
The islands are a mixture of volcanic high islands and coral atolls. The high islands have rich, fertile soil and support a much wider diversity of vegetation than the atolls. Magnificent Tahitian tiare flowers grow abundantly on the high islands and these are woven into leis or worn in the hair. Many introduced flora species exist in the region, including hibiscus and bougainvillea. Most of the land-based creatures were introduced and include wild pigs and fowl, semi-domesticated goats in the Marquesas and sheep on Tahiti, the Australs and the Marquesas. Small geckos abound and there are large centipedes that have a decent sting. French Polynesia has perhaps 100 species of birds and they include terns, petrels, noddies and frigatebirds. The abundance and diversity of marine life is immediately obvious when you poke you head underwater.
Over-water living, Takaroa, Tuamotus (17K)
French Polynesia's tropical climate has two distinct seasons. The wet season, between November and April, has average temperatures around 27 to 30 degrees Celsius with high humidity, ample rain (75% of the annual rainfall) and brief, violent storms. The dry season, between May and October, has little rain, drier air and slightly cooler temperatures. There are prevailing winds which can blow with a force of 40 to 60km/h. The maraamu is a south-easterly that is common in the dry season, and the toerau is a north-north-easterly that blows occasionally in the wet season.
Just how the Polynesian peoples came to populate their islands of the Pacific is a subject of some debate. What is clear, however, is that they were great sailors and navigators who traversed vast distances of open ocean to settle as far and wide as present-day French Polynesia, Hawaii, New Zealand, parts of the New Guinea island, Tonga and the Cook Islands. It's thought that they left South-East Asia around 3000 or 4000 years ago and began to arrive in present-day French Polynesia around 300 AD. Islands were originally ruled by chieftains who commanded huge fleets of outrigger canoes; religious practices at this time included human sacrifices.
Some of the first European visitors, which included Samuel Wallis (1767), Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1768) and James Cook (1769), returned with stories of a paradise on earth inhabited by `noble savages' and Venus-like women whose sexual favours were freely offered to the visitors. Europe was abuzz with stories of a tropical haven of free love when Bougainville returned to Paris and this myth attracted the likes of Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson and Paul Gauguin.
But the most famous event in the region's recent history was the mutiny on the Bounty. It was on Tahiti and the Austral island of Tubuai that Fletcher Christen and his mutineers sought refuge after setting William Bligh and his faithful crew members adrift in a tiny open boat near the Tongan islands on 28 April 1789. And, ultimately, it was on Tahiti that the long arm of British law rounded up those mutineers who hadn't escaped to Pitcairn Island, and made them face British justice.
At the time of the mutiny, the Polynesian islands were ruled locally by important families - there was no all-prevailing ruler. The Polynesians had long realised the power of European weaponry and had courted earlier visitors to make allegiances in regional power struggles. While Cook, Bougainville and others had resisted this, the Bounty mutineers offered themselves as mercenaries. The Pomares, just one of the powerful Tahitian families, secured their services and, as a consequence, came to control most of the islands.
Soon whalers and traders were calling in at the Polynesian islands, trading weapons for fresh food, introducing the notion of prostitution and spreading European diseases to which the islanders had no natural immunity. Protestant missionaries were deployed to put an end to all that nudity, erotic dancing, wanton sex and heathen religion, and traditional Polynesian culture rapidly fell apart. The islands' population plummeted and the tyrannical Protestant missionaries razed Polynesian temples (maraes) to the ground, forbidding any activities that were not devoutly Christian.
And then the French came. They were already in control of the Marquesian archipelago to the north-east and after much filibustering, political browbeating and intimidation managed to oust the English and secure most of what would become French Polynesia in 1842. Queen Pomare IV, who had already done much to unify the islands under her rule, was forced to yield to the French and spent the rest of her 50-year reign as a figurehead.
At the turn of the 20th century the Polynesian islands became part of the Établissements français d`Océanie (French Pacific Settlements) and a programme of rapid commercial expansion was introduced. Chinese labourers came to work on vanilla and cotton plantations, and copra and mother-of-pearl production became the cornerstone of the French Polynesian economy. Nearly 1000 Polynesians were sent to Europe to fight the Germans in WWI, and 5000 US soldiers landed on Bora Bora soon after the USA's entrance into WWII to thwart the Japanese advance in the Pacific.
The French had been testing weapons in the Sahara Desert, but Algerian independence caused General de Gaulle to announce in 1963 that the tiny atolls of Moruroa (often misspelt `Mururoa') and Fangataufa in the Tuamotus would serve as the new sites for weapons testing, and the Centre d`expérimentations du Pacifique was born. As a result of continuing world opposition the testing shifted underground in 1981. Of course the French claim that the testing is perfectly safe but don't seem prepared to conduct it on French domestic soil.
In 1995 when French president Jacques Chirac announced that a new series of underground tests were to be conducted, the world reverberated with protest and condemnation. Riots in the streets of Papeete saw hundreds of cars overturned and buildings set alight, and the Chilean and New Zealand ambassadors were recalled from Paris. The tests were completed in early 1996 and the French government has since stated that the nuclear-testing programme is over. After more than 150 separate tests of up to 200 kilotons (10 times more powerful than the bomb which levelled Hiroshima) the dust has once again settled around the atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa, though the longer-term effects remains to be seen.
There is now a considerable groundswell of calls for independence from France, but the orthodox political powers, headed by President Gaston Flosse, have made it clear this will not happen - at least in the medium term - and France seems unlikely to relinquish its overseas territories. French Polynesia currently has a 41-member Territorial Assembly elected by popular vote every five years. The Republic of France is represented in the territory by a high commissioner appointed by the Republic. Issues of defence, law and order, foreign affairs, immigration, justice, currency, higher education and research are administered by the Republic's proxy in the territory.
GDP: US$1.5 billion (1993)
GDP per head: US$17,200 (1993)
Major Industries: Tourism and nuclear testing
Major Trading Partners: France, the USA, Japan and New Zealand
Copra worker & lagoon fisher (24K)
The missionaries did all they could to wipe out traditional Polynesian culture by levelling temples, destroying carvings, and banning tattoos and that heady, erotic dancing that Bougainville told Europe about. The missionaries sought to make the Polynesians follow the teachings of the Good Book and their own autocratic commandments, but fortunately some of the traditional ways survived. Recently there's been a strong push to revive old ways and rediscover traditional arts. Traditional musical instruments include pahu and toere drums, blown conch shells known as the p and the curious nose flute called a vivo. Guitars and ukuleles made their way into Polynesia and the locals developed a unique song style that owes much to country & western music in form but has a distinctive South Pacific island groove. Customary dancing (tamure) has slowly made its way back into French Polynesian life, but, sadly, the art of making tapa (bark paper and cloth), practised throughout the Pacific, has all but disappeared.
Tikis at Marae Arahurahu, Tahiti, Societies & Marquesian tapa (26K)
Things are pretty laid back in French Polynesia - dress standards are relaxed even in the classiest restaurants and beach wear is often just from the waist down. Church is deadly serious though and Sunday is the day of worship (fully clothed). The Polynesian concept of family is a much broader one than in the West - cousins, uncles, aunts etc are all part of the scene and are called fetii. The family might also have adopted children, faaamu, and children are commonly entrusted to relatives or childless women.
Marae Papiro, Mataiva, Tuamotus (24K)
French Polynesia has a unique culinary tradition, with old South Pacific cooking methods combining with French gastronomy and Italian and Chinese influences. This manifests itself not just in the flashy restaurants but also in the cheap roadside mobile snack bars, les roulottes. Food is still cooked in traditional pit ovens that are common throughout the Pacific. A hole is dug in the ground, stones are placed within it and then a fire is lit to heat the stones. The food, wrapped in banana leaves, is placed on top, and then the hole is filled in again with earth. The baking process takes several hours. In French Polynesia this kind of oven is called an ahimaa and the feast is called a tamaaraa.
Fruit & veg Polynesian style, Fare, Huahine, Societies (27K)
The Moorea Marathon is held in early February, and there's a re-enactment of the arrival of the first London Missionary Society missionaries at Point Venus in Papeete on 5 March with celebrations in Tahiti's and Moorea's Protestant churches. Tahitians love beauty contests and there are events organised for both men and women throughout most of the year, and these culminate in the prestigious Miss Heiva i Tahiti contest in July. The month-long Heiva i Tahiti festival also features music, dancing, sporting competitions and arts & crafts displays. French Bastille Day, 14 July, falls in the middle of this festival and is the highlight. A four-day golf tournament is held on Tahiti in late June and early July, the Heiva No Te Pahu Nui O Tahaa stone-fishing festival takes place on Tahaa during the last week of October and there's a surfing contest off Tahiti in September.
However, what draws the whole of French Polynesia to a standstill is a canoe race. The Hawaiki Nui canoe race is a three-day, four-island, 116km event, held in early November, that pits about 60 six-man teams from all over the territory and abroad against each other. Burly Polynesian men, often bedecked in traditional tattoos, begin from the island of Huahine and cross 44.5km of open ocean to Raiatea. Day two is a 20km sprint within the lagoon between the twin islands of Raiatea and Tahaa, and day three is a mammoth 52km open-ocean crossing to the island of Bora Bora. The vessels arrive to the rhythm of drummers and cheering supporters and TV camera crews wade out to get the footage that will be broadcast across the territory on the evening news. In 1994 a German team of Olympic kayakers entered the race and their best result was 18th on the first leg.
Hawaiki Nui canoe race, Matira Beach, Bora Bora, Societies (23K)
Visas: Only French citizens can enter French Polynesia without a passport and the visa requirements are much the same as for France itself. Western European and Scandinavian citizens are allowed to stay for up to three months without a visa. Citizens of Canada, the USA, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand can stay up to one month without a visa, but all other visitors need a visa to enter.
Health risks: None
Time: GMT/UTC minus 10 hours
Electricity: 220V, 60 Hz
Weights & Measures: Metric (see the conversion table.)
Tourism: 166,000 visitors in 1994, mostly American, French and Japanese.
Currency: Cour de Franc Pacifique (CFP); its value is fixed to the French franc.
Exchange Rate: US$1 = 93 CFP
Relative costs:
- Snack bar meal: US$8-10
- Cheap restaurant meal: US$15-18
- Quality restaurant meal: pick a number!
- Budget room: US$30-50
- Mid-range hotel room: US$120-160
The cost of living in French Polynesia is about as expensive as it gets anywhere in the world. There are no taxes levied on personal income, but indirect taxes and import duties are high and, given that almost anything that you can buy is imported (and subject to duties of up to 200% of the product's value!), it's understandable that nothing's going be cheap. There are, however, cheaper accommodation options with some dorms in the larger towns and family-run pensions in the outer areas, and it's also possible to eat relatively cheaply in the snack bars that abound.
If you eat at the cheap snack bars, stay in bottom-end accommodation, catch le truck and fill your days with snorkelling and exploring the archaeological sites and island interiors on foot, you'll probably get by on US$80-100 a day. If, however, you want to eat in restaurants, stay in comfortable rooms, hire a car or scuba equipment, take a tour and dabble in the nightlife, you can easily multiply these numbers by three or four.
The banks are pretty mean when changing currency or travellers' cheques and generally you can expect to loose about 5% with each transaction, although exchange rates and fees vary from bank to bank. There are plenty of automatic teller machines on Tahiti, and other touristy islands will have at least one or two. Your Visa or MasterCard will get you around most of the heavily touristed parts of French Polynesia, but once you go to the smaller motus or out-of-the-way places it's strictly cash.
Tipping is not the usual practice in French Polynesia and you won't be expected pay more for goods and services than the listed price. But neither can you expect to pay less than the listed price - nowhere in the Pacific is bargaining accepted and a vendor would regard it as demeaning for a customer to haggle. Black pearls and expensive jewellery, however, do have some margin for `discounting'.
The month-long Heiva i Tahiti festivities in July are to Tahiti what Carnaval is to Brazil and people come in droves to be part of them. The festival occurs in the drier and cooler June-through-October period which is, perhaps, the best time to visit the territory. Visitors during this period should, however, take into account the maraamu tradewinds which can bring unstable weather from the south between June and August. The weather gets warmer and more humid between November and the end of May. The Northern Hemisphere holiday periods - Christmas to the beginning of January, late February/early March, Easter, early May and the long northern-summer holiday in July-August - are busy times and flights can be hard to get.
Tahiti
Papeete has something of an image problem. French Polynesia's busy port capital does have heavy rush-hour traffic and ugly concrete developments, but it also has a beautiful waterfront where yachts, ferries and cargo boats come and go, and a thriving market full of South Pacific atmosphere. There are abundant cafΘs, mobile snack vans and eateries along this strip and it's a lovely place to mill about and soak up the scene. Legacies of the region's maritime history are all over the place and the ghosts of Bougainville and Cook have an omnipresence along Papeete's coast.
The market, MarchΘ du Papeete, is a colourful and vibrant place, and on Sunday morning it's at its busiest. The market covers a whole city block just back from the waterfront. The original buildings were erected in 1847, but after a series of expansions and redevelopments the market was destroyed by shelling from German cruisers during WWI. It has been rebuilt twice since then and is now an airy two-storey structure with fruit, vegetables, meat and fish downstairs, and clothes and arts & crafts upstairs.
A few km inland of Papeete is the famous Bain Loti (Loti's Bath or Pool). Pierre Loti's 1880 novel The Marriage of Loti had the hero and the beautiful Rarahu meet at this pool in the verdant surrounds of the Fautaua River. It's no longer the bucolic scene of Pierre Loti's days but it's still a pleasant place and a favourite swimming spot for locals, and Pierre's bust oversees all. Tahiti's lush and rugged interior offers endless possibilities for walkers and mountain climbers, from the leisurely to the very strenuous, and reveals a landscape of soaring peaks that rise to Mt Orohena at 2241m. There are also plateaus, waterfalls, lava tubes and Polynesian relics - including the ruined temples, tikis and petroglyphs of Marae Arahurahu.
Bora Bora
For many the highlight of French Polynesia is the high island of Bora Bora. Some regard it as the most beautiful island in the Pacific because of its lush-green volcanic peaks, huge lagoon, and the chain of sandy motus flanking its coast. Bora Bora is not without its blemishes: some failed tourist developments blight the landscape, but it is as near as it gets to that postcard-perfect tropical island. People come to dive in the fish and coral-filled lagoon, explore the interior by foot or 4WD, and climb the three impressive peaks, Hue (619m), Pahia (661m) and Otemanu (727m).
Coastal view of Bora Bora`s lush and rugged interior (16K)
Rangiroa
Rangiroa, in the Tuamotu Archipelago, is the second-biggest atoll in the world, behind Kwajalein in Micronesia. It measures 75km by 25km and is the most populated island in the archipelago. Its lagoon is more like a vast inland sea and dry land exists as a narrow chain of sandy motus encircling this huge waterway. Divers come from all over the world to Rangiroa and the configuration of the lagoon is such that the rise and fall of the tide causes powerful currents that divers `surf'. There's a great abundance and diversity of marine life within the lagoon. Pearl farming and mother-of-pearl production are important to the local economy.
The Marquesian island of Hiva Oa was once the administrative capital of the Marquesas but now those duties are handled by Nuku Hiva to the north. Hiva Oa still dominates the southern group of the archipelago and is the island where both Paul Gauguin and Belgian singer/poet Jacques Brel finally settled. There are relics and monuments to both men in the main town of Atuona, and Calvaire cemetery, where both were laid to rest, is a place of pilgrimage - particularly for Brel fans. Atuona is dramatically set against the backdrop of Mt Temetiu (1213m) and Mt Feani (1126m) and the island has many archaeological sites, petroglyphs and giant stone tikis.
Fatu Hiva
The most remote island in the Marquesas also has the distinction of being the wettest, lushest and most traditional of the islands in the group. It has no landing strip and is rarely visited by boats, but this makes for a travel experience into Polynesia as it once was. Thor Heyerdahl, of the famous Kon Tiki expeditions, spent a year and a half living on Fatu Hiva which provided the basis for his book Fatu Hiva, the Return to Nature. Mangoes, bananas, oranges and lemons thrive on the slopes of the island thanks to the plentiful rainfall. The island is home to some of the finest artisans in the Marquesas.
The Gambier Archipelago
Not many travellers make it out to the remote Gambier islands, in the south-eastern pocket of French Polynesia, and tourism has made virtually no impact here. French Polynesia's first Catholic mission was established here in 1834 and the entire population was quickly converted. Father HonorΘ Laval, the leader of the mission, quickly ensconced established himself as a despotic ruler of the region. Almost single-handedly he brought about the complete destruction of the native culture and customs - his memoirs speak of the delight he felt destroying heathen temples and icons. When he arrived the population was estimated at around 5000 or 6000. A census conducted 16 years after his eventual exile to Tahiti established that a mere 463 people survived the cruelties, diseases and cultural annihilation of his time. The enormous and highly decorated Cathedral of St Michael on Mangareva stands as a testament to Laval's obsession - it can accommodate 2000 of the faithful, four times the population of the island! Not much happens out here and chances are you'll have to stay a week or two since Air Tahiti only services Mangareva three times a month. This is truly a forgotten part of the world - don't bother bringing your credit card.
Due south of the Societies, and strung along the Tropic of Capricorn, are the Austral islands. The Australs are famous for their arts - elaborate woodcarvings and enormous stone tikis - although the missionaries succeeded in destroying the ancient techniques and today there are almost no traditional artisans. The Australs are quite varied, although they have none of the fecund vegetation of the Societies to the north, and feature limestone caverns, ruined temples (maraes) and hilltop fortresses (pas) on the territory's southernmost island, Rapa.
French Polynesia has some beautiful beaches, lagoons and open ocean, and it's the water-based activities most visitors come for. The region is a mecca for divers who come to see the rich and abundant marine life in warm pristine waters and for some unusual diving environments. The passes and lagoon of Rangiroa in the Tuamotus are a justly famous diving location. Those who prefer to float can strap on a snorkel and mask and experience the vibrant and giddy underworld without leaving the water's surface.
Tahiti is the birth place of surfing and there are popular breaks at Papenoo, Punaauia, and Paea. Other islands, particularly Huahine and Moorea, offer surfers clean consistent swell in warm uncrowded waters. The October-to-March period brings swells from the north and between April and September southerly winds bring heavy swells up from the Antarctic region.
Walkers and climbers will enjoy the high islands throughout the region and 4WD enthusiasts can hire vehicles in Papeete and other larger towns. Equestrian types can massage saddle-sores after a day's ride across the mountains and plateaus of many of the islands, and in the Marquesas horse riding is still the way a lot of local people get about. There are opportunities for hang-gliders and fans of parapente around the Tahitian island and Papeete has clubs and facilities for enthusiasts.
French Polynesia is readily accessible by air from most parts of the world; the exception is the rest of the Pacific. Qantas, Air New Zealand, Air France and AOL shunt most of the visitors, though Lan Chile can provide access from South America and Hawaiian Air flies between Honolulu and Tahiti once a week. All international air traffic comes through Faaa Airport in Papeete, but a US$46 million redevelopment of the airport on the Marquesian island of Nuku Hiva might soon change this situation. There is no departure tax in French Polynesia.
Cruise ships regularly call into the region and it's also a favourite among yachties - crewing positions are sometimes available. There are distinct sailing seasons in this part of the Pacific. Yachts tend to leave the US coast in September or October and between January and the beginning of March. From Australia and New Zealand, yachts depart after the cyclone season, around March and April.
Getting around the islands of French Polynesia can be done by boat or air, though access to some of the remote islands can be difficult and unreliable. The French government kicks in some financial support so domestic air travel is not as expensive as you might expect, but distances between some island groups are great and these flights are costly. Apart from some small charter operators, domestic flights are handled by Air Tahiti and Air Moorea.
Inter-island boats run regular routes between all of the island groups and can be a great way to travel within the region. Huge catamarans ply between Tahiti and Moorea and the very modern Ono-Ono services the rest of the Society group. Luxury cruises are available on vessels like the Wind Song, the Arunai and the Club Med 2.
Tahiti and the developed islands operate a local-bus service known as le truck which is cheap and reliable. Taxis are available for hire, but they are horribly expensive. Rental cars, scooters and bicycles are good ways to explore, and 4WDs can be hired if you want to head inland on some of the tracks. In the Marquesas many locals and tourists choose to get around on horseback.
- Typee, by Herman Melville, was subtitled for the British market `Narrative of a Four Months' Residence among the Natives of a Valley of the Marquesas Islands: or, a Peep at Polynesian Life'.
- The Marriage of Loti, by Pierre Loti (the pen name of French naval officer Louis-Marie-Julian Viaud), did much to reinforce the romantic myth of Tahiti for European readers.
- In the South Seas was Robert Louis Stevenson's contribution, but the book is not regarded as Stevenson at his best.
- W Somerset Maugham visited in 1919 to research The Moon & Sixpence which was inspired by the life of French painter Paul Gauguin.
- Tales of the South Pacific, by James Michener, is a series of stories of the region set against the backdrop of WWII. He returned years later to write Return to Paradise and again for Rascals in Paradise.
- Paul Theroux must have been feeling very cross when he wrote The Happy Isles of Oceania, and everyone cops it, including the Polynesians.
- There are some terrific books on regional art, culture and natural history, and these include The Art of Tahiti by Terence Barlow, Noa Noa by Paul Gauguin, Tatau - Maohi Tattoo by Dominique Morvan with photographs by Claude Corault and Marie HΘlΦne Villierme, The Tahiti Handbook by Jean-Louis Saquet, and Sharks of Polynesia by RH Johnson.
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