Marquesas

The Marquesas archipelago (Te Henua Enana in Marquesan — 'the land of men') is the northernmost and most remote of French Polynesia, located 1,500 km north-east of Tahiti. Comprising 12 volcanic islands (6 inhabited), it forms a world apart: no turquoise lagoons or coral barrier as in the other archipelagos — here, black volcanic cliffs plunge directly into the Pacific, deep valleys are covered with lush tropical vegetation, and eroded summits dominate an open ocean of raw and wild beauty.

The two main islands are Hiva Oa (in the south, administrative capital of the archipelago) and Nuku Hiva (in the north, the largest, 339 km²). Four other inhabited islands complete the picture: Ua Pou and Ua Huka in the northern group, Tahuata and Fatu Hiva in the southern group. The total population does not exceed 9,200 — it is the least populated archipelago of French Polynesia.

The Marquesas are deeply marked by two Western figures who ended their lives there: Paul Gauguin, French painter, lived his last years at Atuona (Hiva Oa) and has rested there since 1903 in the Calvaire seaside cemetery. Jacques Brel, Belgian singer, spent his last years at Atuona and has rested there since 1978, in the same cemetery, a few metres from Gauguin. The Gauguin-Brel museum at Atuona retraces their Marquesan lives — a moving and unmissable stop.

But the Marquesas are far more than a cemetery of celebrities: this is the Polynesian archipelago that has best preserved its ancestral ma'ohi culture. The monumental tikis (anthropomorphic stone statues) of Puamau (Hiva Oa) — including the tiki Takaii, the largest tiki in the Marquesas (2.67 m) — and the me'ae (sacred temples) in the valleys of Taipivai (Nuku Hiva, the valley immortalised by Herman Melville in 'Typee') and Hatihu (Nuku Hiva) are among the most impressive pre-colonial vestiges of the South Pacific. Marquesan tattooing (the most complex and most respected in Polynesia) has survived without interruption from the origins.

The Marquesas are discovered by plane (daily Air Tahiti flights from Papeete, 3 h 30 flight) or by the legendary mixed cargo Aranui 5 — a cargo-passenger ship supplying the six inhabited islands in 12 days, blending tourist cruise and vital logistics for the inhabitants. It is one of the most authentic travel experiences in the world.