Page 84 - French Polynesia
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majority of Tahiti’s population can be found living on Tahiti       rich in natural beauty, with many quaint and picturesque coastal
                                                                          villages dotting the landscape. It is a great place to escape to from
A Nui or Big Tahiti, which has a more rugged terrain. Most of the         the vacationing crowds during peak tourist season. Covered by
                                                                          lush rainforests, the interior areas of Tahiti are home to a wealth of
people live on the western coast of the island. Papeete, the capital      beautiful trees, ferns and flowering plants with waterfalls, flowing
of French Polynesia and the largest city of Tahiti sits on the north      rivers and deep valleys. The coastal areas of Tahiti are dotted with
western coast. With a well-developed infrastructure of road net-          tall palm trees and fields of tropical flowers.
works and highways, Tahiti Nui is a great place to explore. Tahiti Iti
or Small Tahiti is less mountainous and a more isolated area from
the rest of the island. Accessible only by boat or hiking, Tahiti Iti is

Tahiti’s Natural Environment

T he volcanic island of Tahiti rises from the South Pacific and is        basalts, alkali basalts, transition atlotholeiites, basanites, picrites,
     the biggest island with the tallest mountain—the more than           and evolved lavas.
two-kilometer high Mount Orohena—in French Polynesia. The
landmass of Tahiti is mountainous with ridges that rise steeply           T ahiti is home to ten mountain summits that are over 1,500
around calm inlets in the flat coastal plain, where much of the                meters high. From these summits descend thousands of
development is located. The physical structure of Tahiti plays a          intricate indentations caused by erosion. Because of the relatively
major role in the unique environments and abundant endemism,              constant temperatures associated with the tropics, seasons are
features that do not exist to the same extent anywhere else in            differentiated as being wet or dry rather than hot or cold. The dry
French Polynesia. The geomorphology of Tahiti is an important             period extends from May to October with an average temperature
aspect of the island’s physical environment because it provides the       of 25-26 degrees Celsius. The wet season is from November to April
substrate which climate then shapes. The large size of the island         and is accompanied by a rise in humidity, more cloud cover and an
primarily has to do with its age. Tahiti is a volcanic island that        increase in rainfall.
rose over hundreds of thousands of years from the sea floor some
4000 meters deep. Given its volcanic origins, the rocks in Tahiti are
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