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Air Tahiti Magazine 54
destination p eu nombreux sont aujourd hui les privilegies a avoir very few people have had the privilege to search and discover foule le sol de ces iles magiques, aux paysages et aux these magic islands. the countryside and traditions have been traditions preserves par leur isolement. d ailleurs, kept uncommonly preserved by the sheer isolation of the l accueil reserve aux visiteurs en dit long sur l interet archipelago. in the gambier visitors are never treated like porte a leur presence. aux gambier, on n est jamais un passing tourists and the locals make every effort to make sure «touriste» de passage. on est le bienvenu parmi une petite new comers feel welcomed. to the contrary, one is welcomed communaute dynamique, avec laquelle on est venu partager et into the small, dynamic community to share and make echanger. immediatement integre a la vie du village, le visiteur exchanges. by becoming immediately integrated into village ressent une veritable atmosphere de serenite, faisant rapidement life, one is plunged into an atmosphere of serenity and quickly la connaissance de tout ce petit monde qui fait vivre les gambier : gets to know about all that makes the gambier turn: pearl perliculteurs, pecheurs, boulanger, pretre, mais aussi jeunes farmers, fishermen, bakers, priests and even young artists who ecoliers, apprentis graveurs sur nacre que de decouvertes pour are learning the art of carving the native mother of pearl. yet le voyageur, loin d imaginer toutes les habitudes regissant le the discoveries of the visitors are nothing compared to all the mode de vie d un petit archipel lointain. le decalage est grand, little details and habits that govern the way of life of this tiny, mais la complicite s installe, naturellement. distant archipelago. the gulf is big but settling in comes a mangareva, il fait bon se promener sur la petite route qui encercle naturally. l ile. celle-ci laisse parfois place a un simple chemin en soupe de in mangareva, it's a pleasure to stroll along the little coral road corail. cela vous conduira aux differents monuments, qui that encircles the island. sometimes the route becomes little constituent autant de symboles de l histoire singuliere des more than a simple trail of coral gravel. the road leads to gambier peuple par les polynesiens provenant d une vague different monuments that house the symbols of the singular d emigration partie de l archipel des marquises aux alentours de history of the gambier. the archipelago was populated around 1 200 apres jc, l ile va rester preservee de tout contact important 1200 bc during a wave of polynesian immigrants who left the avec l exterieur jusqu en 1834, a l arrivee des freres des sacres marquesas islands. after this, the island had little contact with coeurs de picpus. cette date voit naitre la premiere mission the outside world until 1834 when the catholic missionaries, catholique de polynesie. honore laval, le superieur de la mission, fathers of the sacred heart of picpus, arrived. this date marked multiplia la construction d edifices religieux entre 1836 et 1871. the birth of the first catholic mission in polynesia. honore le plus grand et le plus ancien monument de polynesie, la laval, the head of the mission, is responsible for the colossale cathedrale saint-michel de riketea (1841), peut accueillir construction of a multitude of religious edifices built between pres de 1 200 fideles, soit toute la population des gambier ! 1836 and 1871. the biggest and oldest monument in french si vous avez la chance de penetrer a l interieur, vous ne vous polynesia, the colossal saint michel's cathedral in rikitea lasserez pas d admirer les boiseries, incrustees de nacre. art de (1841), can welcome around 1,200 worshippers, which today is detail et de finesse, les missionnaires avouaient apprecier cette about the entire population of the gambier! the interior is occupation, une facon de tromper le temps tout pres de filled with beautiful works of mother of pearl encrusted wood l actuelle mairie, on apercoit la chapelle sainte-anne, au charme carvings. with attention to detail and an undeniable finesse, desuet, alors qu aux abords du lagon, on penetre le «domaine du the missionaries admitted that they enjoyed occupying roi», dans lequel se trouve aujourd hui l ecole primaire ! themselves with this work in order to pass the time. right near des restes de remparts, des petits guets en pierre aux toits today's mayor's office, one finds the saint anne chapel with its coniques, tout cela forme une architecture franchement obsolete charm, and then, at the waters edge is "the king's inhabituelle pour une ile de polynesie dans les hauteurs de mangareva, le petit cimetiere est domine par un imposant tombeau : il s agit de celui du roi maputeoa. tous les monuments des gambier sont peints aux couleurs de ce roi, en blanc et bleu. > coup d oeil sur les gambier situe a plus de 1 600 km au sud-est de l ile de tahiti dans le prolongement des tuamotu, l archipel des gambier est le plus eloigne, mais egalement le moins peuple de polynesie francaise, avec tout juste un millier d ames. compose de plusieurs iles hautes cernees par la meme barriere de corail, mangareva, la plus grande de l archipel, abrite plus de 80% de la population. le village de rikitea en est le chef-lieu. mangareva signifie «montagne ou pousse le reva», plante aussi ravissante que veneneuse, mais egalement «montagne flottante». en effet, quand on fait la route depuis les iles basses des tuamotu, on tombe subitement sur une terre qui «depasse» de l eau ! le climat, rafraichit par l alize oceanique, est vraiment bienfaisant, car la chaleur n est jamais accablante si la flore comme la faune sont exuberantes aux gambier et qu elles permettent aux mangareviens de subvenir a l essentiel, les habitants ont une autre source de richesse : la perliculture. celle-ci fait vivre quasiment tout l archipel. the gambier islands at a glance situated more than 1,600 km southeast of tahiti along the tuamotu ridge, the gambier archipelago is the most distant and least populated island group in french polynesia; there are just under 1,000 inhabitants. composed of several high islands enclosed within the same coral reef, mangareva is the largest island in the archipelago and houses more than 80% of the population. the village of rikitea acts as the capital. mangareva means "the mountain where the reva grows," the reva being a plant that is as beautiful as it is poisonous. yet the name can also be translated as "the floating mountain." this is really what mangareva looks like if one is coming from the tuamotu atolls where the land scarcely rises above the ocean. the climate is cooled by trade winds and the heat rarely has the chance to settle in. with flourishing flora and fauna, the gambier is blessed with natural riches but they have one more: pearls. farming the oysters of the lagoon and creating pearls is how most of the archipelago earn their living. 14 r e v u e d e b o r d n ° 5 4 / a i r ta h i t i / o n - b o a r d m a g a z i n e n ° 5 4 3 3
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