The Complete Travel Guide to Rakahanga

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How to Get to Rakahanga

Although there is an old airstrip on Rakahanga, it is no longer in use, as the jungle has reclaimed it. The only way to get to Rakahanga is by sea.

Most people get to Rakahanga by taking a boat or ferry from Manihiki. There is no set schedule for the ferry; it is arranged when demand is present and the weather conditions are calm enough. The journey between the two lagoons takes approximately two hours.

Find out how to get to Manihiki in The Complete Travel Guide to Manihiki.

Getting Around Rakahanga

There are crushed coral roads on the main island of Rakahanga, but a vehicle won’t be necessary to get around the village. The island is easily walkable. Your host can organise a boat to explore the lagoon and other motu (islands).

Find out more about how visitors typically travel around the Northern Cook Islands with our Northern Cook Islands Transport Guide: 9 Ways to Get to (& Around) the Northern Group.

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Where to Stay in Rakahanga

There is no formal accommodation for tourists visiting Rakahanga. Your stay in Nivano will be with a host family through a homestay arrangement. Accommodation can only be organised through the Rakahanga Island Administration, whose most recent contact details are best obtained through Cook Islands Tourism.

Needless to say, homestays in Rakahanga are rather basic. All of your meals will be provided by your host. Drinking water is typically available through filtered rainwater. However, it’s best to take precautions as outlined in our guide, “Is the Water Safe to Drink in the Cook Islands?“

© Turama Photography - Cook Islands Tourism

6 Best Things to Do in Rakahanga

Visiting Rakahanga is experiencing a slice of life in a small community on an isolated island. Needless to say, there are no organised tours or lagoon cruises. Anything that you do on Rakahanga will be arranged by your host family or whoever you’re savvy enough to get talking to. Just mingle with the community and see what adventure you get up to.

1. Experience island living and learn about breadfruit and copra farming, and rito crafting
2. Cruise the Rakahanga Lagoon
3. Go fishing with the locals
4. Relax on the glorious beaches
5. Listen to the singing at a Sunday church service
6. See the world’s largest crabs.

1. Experience Island Living

Rakahanga has a strong sense of community, friendliness, and an interesting local industry, whether it’s farming breadfruit, copra, or puraka, or crafting rito (bleached pandanus leaf) hats that are exported to Rarotonga. Meet the locals and learn more about their lives on this remote island.

2. Cruise the Lagoon

Locals with boats can take you out on Rakahanga’s gorgeous lagoon, showing you awesome snorkelling areas and dropping you off at an uninhabited motu.

3. Fishing with the Locals

Try reef fishing or deep-sea fishing with the locals. The tuna season is in January, when the island’s exciting fishing competitions take place. If you show interest in your host, they’re sure to find some fisherfolk who’ll take you out.

4. Relax on the Beach

Rakahanga and its motu are home to idyllic beaches and stellar swimming spots facing the lagoon. Take some time to take it all in.

5. Listen to the Singing in Church

Like on all of the Cook Islands’ inhabited islands, the church services are amazing to experience on a Sunday morning, with singing that is sure to move you. In the village of Nivano, there is a CICC Church, a Catholic Church, and a Seventh-day Adventist Church, with services held on Sundays and Saturdays.

6. See Coconut Crabs

What have otherwise been eaten to extinction on many of the other Cook Islands, coconut crabs or unga are the largest types of crabs in the world and can be spotted tearing off coconut husks with their huge claws. They are more likely to be seen after dark or in the early morning.

See more typical Cook Islands experiences in the 101 Best Things to Do in the Cook Islands: The Ultimate List.

© Alex King - Cook Islands Tourism

The History of Rakahanga

Like many Polynesian legends, it is said that Rakahanga was fished from the sea by the local people. The island broke into two pieces, Rakahanga and Manihiki.

European Discovery

And like many European legends, Rakahanga was “spotted” on round-the-world expeditions, first believed to have been sighted by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521.

On March 2 1606, the commander of Capitana and Almiranta, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros (who discovered Pukapuka 10 years earlier), sighted Rakahanga, where reports mainly revolved around the beauty of the island’s women. He named the island “Gente Hermosa“, meaning “Beautiful People”.

Splitting the People

More than 200 years passed before European ships visited Rakahanga again, first by a Russian expedition in 1820, followed by a series of whaling and trading ships soon after. And in 1849, Polynesian missionaries arrived on nearby Manihiki to find that the people there regularly lived and travelled between Rakahanga and Manihiki.

The missionaries convinced the locals to split and stay on either one of the two islands, thereby putting an end to the lives lost at sea when the locals would make the voyage.

Nevertheless, the islands have still worked together in times of need. In 1997, for instance, when Cyclone Martin devastated crops on Manihiki, Rakahangans provided the island with food.