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This is not a birding email but after last night's
talk by Denis Saunders some people may be interested in my experience of Easter
Island.
I travelled to Easter Island as a stop over on the
way to the Antarctic in Jan 2000. When Mark Clayton asked what was the
wildlife like my immediate memory was it was 'there was hardly any of it'.
Unfortunately my memory must be some where right as when I consulted my now
rather ancient Lonely Planet I found the 2 small paragraphs on Flora & Fauna
summed up by 'Rapa Nui lacks entire families of plants and is poor in
native fauna: even the sea birds are relatively few'.
My Lonely Planet also told me the European
name Easter Island came about as a Dutch expedition landed on the island on
Easter Sunday. The locals definitely call their island Rap Nui and
identify strongly with other Polynesians. There is a lot more
information in a very consice form in the LP and I am sure surfing the net will
give other such sources.
My interest at the time was in the statues and the
people who made them.
Before leaving on the trip I had arranged a tour
with resident archaeologists. It was a fabulous tour.
Rapa Nui is an example of what happens when we
use up all the resources.
I have attached an instalment that our local news
sheet editor twisted my arm to write on my return.
Julienne K
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