Raiatea Island is full of amazing landscapes, tall coconut palms and an ancient extinct volcano. Photo / Getty Images
According to traditional histories, two Māori migration canoes, the Tainui and Arawa, left Raiatea for New Zealand in the late 13th century or early 14th century.
Many Māori can trace their lineage to these exact canoes and this voyage. Now, in 2025, the remains of their sacred Marae rest in Raiatea, French Polynesia.
Jenni Mortimer heads to Raitea to learn more about this sacred place and its deep connection with Aotearoa.
The island of Raiatea is considered the birthplace of Polynesian culture and the most sacred island in French Polynesia.
Its name means distant sky in Tahitian, and below that sky’s vast sunrises and sunsets is the land formerly known as Havai’i or Havaiki.
Roughly twice the size of Waiheke Island, Raiatea is believed to be the ancestral homeland of Māori and the starting point for migratory journeys that followed the track of Matariki – the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) constellation – and led to the settlement of other Polynesian islands, including New Zealand.
Home to the most significant marae in the Polynesian Triangle, the Marae Taputaputea (a Unesco World Heritage site since 2017) it’s a must-visit for Kiwis wanting to learn more about their ancestral roots.
To make the most of the experience, we met with a Tahitian guide through Aroha Experiences, who took us through Marae Taputapuatea and Raiatea’s surrounding natural treasures.
Our guide Naiki Lutz explained a bit more about the marae, Taputapuatea - “tapu” meaning sacred and “atea” meaning faraway. She’s guided many New Zealanders through this same journey, many of whom she says are impacted deeply by a sense of connection felt to their ancestral roots.
The marae was once a centre of power where high priests and chiefs gathered, and today still has an incredible presence, commanding respect.
But visiting here hasn’t always been a guarantee, as Lutz said many generations before her were scared of visiting the site, which was considered taboo and a no-go zone due to a mass wave of Christianity and large-scale attempts to cull the ancestral stories that had come before it.
Christian missionaries had a significant influence on Raiatea, starting in the early 19th century, leading to conflicts and even the destruction of the traditional Marae Taputapuatea in 1828. While the people of Raiatea initially resisted, Christian missionaries successfully converted many and managed to gain political influence.
Now, Lutz and many others on the island are on a mission to preserve the Tahitian culture, retell the stories, regenerate the land and bring back parts of what was lost.
While some of the stories and traditions may never be recovered, Raeatea is in itself a history book in landscape form.
It is home to many amazing natural features, such as Mount Temehani and its Tiara Apetahi flower, which grows nowhere else in the world and blooms at dawn. The island also boasts its magnificent lagoon, rivers bathed in rituals, and lush, unique vegetation.
Lutz took us in her truck through the centre of the mountains, stopping to pick a fresh mangosteen and visit a river, used by locals for centuries to bathe and fish.
There she prepared a coconut scrub for us using fresh coconut husk and coconut meat, and we bathed in the same river many generations of Tahitians have. We took time to appreciate all that the land has to offer as we gave back to the eels and shrimp around us as they feasted on discarded coconut.
For a quick snack break, we detoured to a local market and tried mapé chaude for the first time, a fruit that’s gruelling to harvest and cook and looks like an organ, but is a delicacy among locals. The taste is somewhere between a kūmara and a banana.
Time felt slower on Raiatea; nobody was rushing, and there was a knowledge everywhere we went that this place was special. Connecting to it for a moment in time was an honour not to be taken for granted.
Although less famous than its neighbours Bora Bora and Moorea, Raiatea captivated us with its mana, spectacular landscapes and stories.
At the end of our time there, we wove harakeke with our guide and dropped it into the ocean as a gift to Ta’aroa (the Tahitian supreme creator god), thanking him for our time at such a special place.
Raiatea, French Polynesia
GETTING THERE
Fly from Auckland to Tahiti with Air Tahiti or Air New Zealand daily. Tahiti to Raiatea is a short 45-minute flight with Air Tahiti or Air Moana.
DETAILS
New Zealand Herald Travel visited courtesy of Tahiti Tourism.
Jenni Mortimer is the NZ Herald’s chief lifestyle and entertainment reporter. Jenni started at the Herald in 2017 and has previously worked as lifestyle, entertainment and travel editor.