The Gambier archipelago sits at 23S, just near the southern border of the tropics. This means that the beautiful tropical weather is periodically interrupted as the area is brushed by fronts that are driven northward from the Southern Ocean.
The result is a crazy mix of vegetation on the islands. Right at the water’s edge, the view is out of a South Pacific postcard – palm trees waving in the gentle breezes, pandanus trees laden with fruit, and crabs scurrying across the white sand beach. But above 50’/15m in elevation, the foliage changes markedly. Forest dominated by false pine trees grows up the steep hills, offering widely spaced trees, a soft coating of needles, and abundant shade.
All this combines to offer fantastic hiking opportunities. There is a well-developed network of trails crisscrossing the main island of Mangareva, remarkable both because the trail network is very large given the population of the island and because there are very few tourists to use the trails (hiking in the hills doesn’t seem to be a popular pastime for the locals).
After a few weeks on the boat, it’s a welcome change to walk through a cool forest. Hopefully our atrophied leg muscles round into shape soon!
