The quiet life in Tahaa www.airtahiti.aero > News > The quiet life in Tahaa

But this leeward island destination, away from the main tourist circuits, deserves particular attention for the authenticity and serenity it managed to keep.

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From Vaitoetoe mountain pass at more than 400 meters, the view is breathtaking. Haamene bay exposes all its length and cuts through the generous nature that has nourished the people of Tahaa. In the background, sharing Tahaa’s lagoon, looms the silhouette of Raiatea.This panorama is the island’s geography in a nutshell : a land of mountains indented by deep bays, surrounded by a multitude of motu and more distant islands – Raiatea and, only a dozen kilometers away, Bora Bora and Huahine.
The viewpoint is yours if you take the trail that crosses from Haamene in the east to Patio in the north,Tahaa’s two main villages. Paved only at both ends, this “road” quickly turns into a red dirt trail that only 4x4 vehicles can risk.When the rains are heavy, it becomes barely passable.
On a good day, however, it offers a wonderful hiking or mountain-biking opportunity to those who like to explore nature at their own pace and enjoy its fragrances and sounds. For seven kilometers, you will go through a forest, an orchard, and a flower garden. Cashew trees, purau (wild hibiscus), miro (rosewood) and mape (Tahitian chestnut) abound along the river. Albizzia pines, with their typical parasol shape,were imported from Malaysia for sloping ground stabilization.They will provide shade without blocking the view along the way. You will see many pink and red alpinia – ginger flowers – and as for fruit, if you’re careful you will see ice cream beans, star fruits, guavas, limes, star apples… Coming down to Patio, you will notice plantations of taro, taroa, manioc, sugar cane… On the side of the trail, lianas of vanilla sometimes curl around nono trees or purau stakes, and you’ll be able to study up close the flower of this precious Tahaa orchid.
Reaching Patio, you’ll get back on the circle road, now entirely paved.Note that on Tahaa, two seaside road stretches are still covered in coral gravel, one in Haamene and Faaaha bays, and the other on the eastern side of Hurepiti bay. From Patio, you have two choices : east or west coast. Both are wonderful lagoon-side roads, or should we say true bicycle paths, just a few inches above the water.The majestic silhouette of Bora Bora is painted onto the backdrop, as are dozens of motu.This is when the other Tahaa opens to you, and you should not miss it : Tahaa-by-the-sea.The island does not have beaches; the motu are right there for your dreamy, perfect-for-a-nap white sand spots.The hotels have caught on, and several of them are built right on these miniature paradises.
Heading east towards Faaaha, the motu that dot the lagoon are simply sublime. A few kilometers further, if only one had to be chosen, the bay of Raai is the one, with its incredible range of blues.Tahaa has a few pearl farms; some twenty outfits dedicated to the growing of Pinctada Margaritifera, the oyster that yields the famous Tahitian black pearl.
All along the road, you will enjoy the surprising calm in which Tahaa’s people live and work.Witnesses of the island’s economic activity, boats suspended above water in their mooring frames, copra driers on the seaside or in gardens on the “mountain” side, all contribute in their own way to the feeling of tranquility.Villages are covered in flowers, like Faaaha and its neat hibiscus hedges.The many breadboxes, decorated to the taste of their owners and adorning the garden entrances, add another authentic touch to this tidy rural atmosphere. Every morning between 4 and 6 a.m., the baker drops the bread in these wooden boxes. People pay their bill at the end of the month. Between Faaaha and Haamene, the paved road rises again and offers a beautiful view on the bay of Faaaha. You’ll see more motu in the south of the island, but this is the coast of deep bays, in Faaaha, Haamene, Apu and Hurepiti. If you choose to explore it from the sea, you may stop over at the Hibiscus Foundation in Haamene bay, which is dedicated to the preservation of sea turtles. In the back of the bay, you’ll see the red stone quarries from which rocks are extracted for Tahaa’s roadwork, and even for Papeete’s To’ata plaza 230 km away.
Facing Haamene bay on each side of Toahotu pass, the Mahae and Toahotu motu are the gateway to Tahaa, which you may have taken if you arrived on the island on the boat shuttle from Uturoa village in Raiatea. At the southern tip of the island, Vaipiti bay is sure to catch your attention. Its two motu, one of which is called Toapuhi, are two small pieces of Eden that seem to nestle between the two banks against the fresh maraamu, the southern wind. Hurepiti bay has many seaside holiday homes, all the more secluded because they are not accessible from the main road. From the sea, you can see the vast pineapple plantations on the hillside. Facing Hurepiti bay is Paipai pass, the best pass into the Tahaa-Raiatea lagoon. Large and deep enough for cruise ships, it is the route to both Tahaa’s Tapuamu harbor and Raiatea’s Uturoa’s harbor. Further to the southwest of the island, you’ll spot the village of Tiva and its beautiful blue church.

Right : Tiva's temple

From Tapuamu and its harbor - which people here just call “the wharf” - the string of motu that was visible from Patio reappears.Here children play in the water while their parents wait for the shuttles to Uturoa, to other places in Tahaa or to the motu they work on.Yachtsmen come here to re-supply. The atmosphere is friendly, a good-natured mix of tourists and workers.
From a boat, you can now experience a new sensation : flying over a lagoon-size aquarium.Near motu Tautau, Eha and Maharare is an area famous for its coral gardens, less than a meter deep. Boarding a canoe from the motu’s immaculate sand beaches, or through your diving mask, you’ll observe all the treasures of Polynesian sea fauna : napoleons, schools of barracudas or caranx, moray eels… or even a few gray sharks. On this enchanting vision, you may leave Tahaa, the delightful and preserved treasure of the Leeward Islands. Happy to have discovered it before the others, you’ll keep memories of a peaceful destination : authentic Tahaa.

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A pretty name, vanilla island, conjuring up delicious olfactory images, w arm and sweet. A well deserved name too : almost half of the Polynesian vanilla is grown here. Meeting this orchid, from growing to tasting, is a compulsory step in discovering the island.

It’s everywhere. In each valley, each slope, and even in the gardens of the people of Tahaa.Vanilla grows equally in the open, on small purau or nono trees, and in greenhouses under shade nets that protect it from the sun, birds and noxious insects.Vanilla is the queen of Tahaa.The families who don’t grow it cure and package it. And those who have not made vanilla their profession readily seek it for their coffee, their pastries or their rum punch.Vanilla production is on a strict calendar. It flowers from July to October, a period of intense activity for those who “wed” vanilla, i.e. pollinate it. It’s an extremely precise gesture : the membrane separating the male and female organs - the stamen and the stigma – of the flower is torn with a small stick, so they come into contact.The flower only lives for a few hours, it must be “wed” as soon as it opens, most often between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m.
This artificial insemination of the vanilla flower is one of the tasks for the “pollinator”, a specialist in charge of planting, feeding and caring for the vanilla stems.“We have to pollinate about 1 500 flowers a day”, explains François Tetauira, pollinator for the Vanilla Epic in Tahaa, a territorial administration that promotes and develops French Polynesia’s vanilla. Nine to ten months later, the pod is ready. About five pod clusters have grown on each stake holding the vanilla liana.

This year’s crop will probably suffer from unfavorable weather conditions :“To get a lot of flowers, vanilla must be subjected to about a week of cold weather in July. But last July was too hot” complains Bernard Faniu, Epic’s director in Tahaa.This prediction doesn’t seem to affect people’s morale. All the producers we talked to in Tahaa are already thinking about 2007, hoping the harvest will shoot back to a better level. “People here have an optimistic outlook.We hope it gets better, and we find other ways to make a living. In the islands you don’t need as much money as in Tahiti to live on”, explains François Tetauira.

Right : Haamene's bay watch from Vaitoetoe's pass in Faaaha
Left : Papa Taie is a vanilla curer in Faaaha

This shared optimism has also been felt, in the past six years, in the drive to modernize vanilla cultivation, reaching 23 tons in 2005. A first shade net was tested in 1999 by the SDR (Rural Development Service).Vanilla stems are installed on cement stakes under greenhouses made of dark nets. Seven years later,Tahaa now has 78 shade nets.The Epic means to put up another fifteen very soon, and keeps on persuading Tahaa’s 600 growers, even the smallest of them, to convert to greenhouse farming.This method is also developing in the neighboring islands, Raiatea and Huahine, and it yields two varieties :Vanilla Tahitensis and Vanilla Haapape, longer and fleshier. Once harvested from March to July, the pods are taken to the curers.

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Eritua Teirua is a vanilla grower in tahaa. at 60, he launches into production under shade nets, a kind of greenhouse cultivation. While he waits for his first “modern” harvest, he doesn’t neglect traditional, tried and true expertise.

How did you become a vanilla farmer ?

My father was a vanilla grower, like his father before him. He taught me everything when I was a kid. But I didn’t make it my job right away. In the 1960s, the price of vanilla was low. You had to work a lot on the side to make a living. I chose to drop vanilla and do something else. I was a captain and a machine driver. I took over the farm at 45. It’s been my main job for 15 years now. I have 1 800 vanilla plants that yielded 1 200 kilos in 2004.

Do you like this line of work ?

It’s true that it’s difficult, you have to clear the grounds every day, all the time. But I like being my own boss. I organize my own workday. I think the job will change with the shade nets. I put up mine in December 2005… and since then, I had almost nothing to do. All I did was put the nets up and spread the coconut husk fiber on the ground.

Will your vanilla grown under shade nets be the same as the vanilla cultivated the traditional way ?

I don’t know. I’ve been told it will be, but I’m waiting to see. All I know is that it’s a lot less work. And as I’m getting older, it’s fine with me. I can drive to the greenhouses, and I take a walk inside… it’s not like that with vanilla planted on the hillside slopes!

Do you grow other things besides vanilla ?

I know many people have been tempted to grow nono. I tried it myself.The problem is that the buyers take a very long time to pay. It’s not reliable.Whereas for vanilla, it’s all very well organized. I go to Patio with my crop, the buyers weigh it and pay me right away. But in bad years such as this year, when I’m only going to get about 200 kg, I find other ways of making money.Occasionally, for instance, I captain the Raiatea boat shuttle.

How do you see the future of your vanilla plantation ?

In two years I’ll have my first greenhouse harvest, I’ll see what happens. In any case I’m keeping my traditional plants, it always brings a little money every year. I already have land that’s ready for two shade nets, for my son and my nephew. For my grand-daughter too. She’s 20, right now she’s a hotel receptionist in Bora Bora. She wants to come back and work in Tahaa, growing vanilla.

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Text Anne Cesbron-Fourrier / Photos Laurent Flores

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