Where’s the best hiking on Bora Bora? In my Raid Anei Report I eluded to the logic behind climbing along the ridgeline from Matira to Mt Otemanu.
Specifically, since Bora Bora is the world’s most beautiful lagoon, then could it be that walking along the ridgeline overlooking these waters could be the world’s most beautiful island ocean walk?
The hike from the tower behind Povaie Bay across over the top of Mata Pupu and on to Mt Otemanu is simply sensational. The amazing view of the hike and its sheer beauty has left climbers speechless.
One starts some 50m south of Galerie Alain & Linda taking an access road up to the readily apparent transmission tower. A large cement water storage plant alongside the tower offers climbers a well-earned stop with, to one side, views over the sensational waters surrounding Point Faaone and on to Raiatea & Tahaa.
To the other, a panorama taking viewers from Matira to Motu Tapu & onto Vaitape with Maupiti enticing viewers from afar.
When departing from the tower, the climb takes hikers up and literally over Mata Pupu, It’s a prominent Bora Bora landmark whose cone-shaped structure reaches 235m into the skies.
Whilst enjoying the shade offered by certain overhanging foliage, you get glimpses of Mata Pupu seen here in the foreground with the mystical & omnipresent Mt Otemanu overlooking matters.
I can’t tell you how good it feels to reach the top of Mata Pupu and gaze out at the stunningly beautiful panorama that awaits you. I’ve had hardened water enthusiasts tell me that this outing beats by far any jet-ski tour of the island.
The view out over Motu Piti Au’u (‘twice the giving’) & over Faaone Point (‘bend in the sand’) across to a distant Raiatea & Tahaa. Huahine is also actually visible though lost here in the required compression of the image.
Bora Bora’s world-renowned resorts and their overwater bungalows are all laid out before your eyes.
The track awaits you is a gem. Just the best stroll in wonderful surrounding. Just looking at it laid out before you make you take a deep breath.
Here are a set of photos to get a feeling for the relativity of landmarks along the path and give you a greater perspective of what awaits you.
As recorded in my Raid Anei Report these outings:” are more, in fact, than a good physical hit-out amidst outstanding scenery. They can also offer the opportunity to gain an insight into the rich cultural heritage of these people through a reflection, for example, into the names given to landmarks by the ancestors of this island’s people.
We were atop Mata Pupu the sharply pointed, cone shaped mountain piercing the skies above Povaie Bay. A common useage of the word mata is to signify a face, the face of things; pupu commonly refers to a gathering (of personages).
“Could the ‘gathering’ refer to the ‘faces’ of stones with an uncanny resemblance to tikis?
Could the ‘eye’ be referring to the eye of the tikis keeping a watchful look over Raiatea, Tahaa & Huahine as a means of ‘protection’ in days gone by for Bora Bora against any planned raids”?
Here is a stone with an uncanny resemblance to the tikis of Easter Island facing the same direction as the ‘tiki’ in the distance & featured above:
A couple more close-up shots that appeared in my earlier post:
The sacred island Motu Tapu and in the distance Magical Maupiti.
The Intercontinental Resort & Thalasso Spa:
Le Meridien:
St Regis:
Four Seasons:
Villa One or Alokilani, photographed here, is situated not far from the Intercontinental Thalasso Resort & Spa. Owned by Swiss businessman, Adrian Bratschi, the property is little known to locals or tourists but often rented by the rich and famous. It was reportedly sold recently for around $ 18 million.
