All the sunshine and seaside and giant stone heads aside, it´s not possible to ignore that there is a darker side to the expanding tourism on Easter Island. Numbers of visitors to the island have increased enormously year on year for the last few years, thouygh luckily it is still mostly resort free with accommodations being mostly guesthouses run by locals. However, with the increasing numbers wanting to stay on the island, this may be changing.
Just opposite our sweet coast side campsite there is a huge unfinished hotel complex, Hanga Roa Hotel. It´s windows are covered in slogans written in white paint, the largest ad most predominant of which reads "This land was stolen from the people of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)."
Sadly, very little of the land outside of Hanga Roa (the only town on the island) is actually owned by the islanders. The rest is claimed by the Chilean government, as Easter Island is considered part of Chile, though it is nearly 4000km to the West across the Pacific. An article here explains the situation in more detail.
It seems unjustifiable and violent action is being taken against people who have lived on this land for generations, and I would urge any visitors to the island to carefully consider their accommodations and tour companies and not to support any business which is illegally taking land from locals and is having a bad environmental impact on the island.
Very glad to have stayed in our little locally run campsite this last week, despite being eaten alive by ants.
A link to Camping Mihinoa for future travellers.
No comments:
Post a Comment