Pacific Islands/Cook Islands/French Polynesia
Oceanic Treasures: The Cook Islands and French Polynesia
Program No. 25485RJ
Delve into the Cook Islands and French Polynesia’s rich culture and gain a better understanding of past and present ecology, politics and traditional practices.
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At a Glance
Over 4,000 miles from Australia lies the remote islands of French Polynesia and the Cook Islands, regions brimming with spectacular natural wonders and complex international history. Dive into the rich culture of these islands on this unforgettable learning adventure, where you’ll look beyond pristine beaches to learn about local traditions, endemic species and archaeology. Learn about ancient marine wayfaring with a firsthand look at the Marumaru Atua, a Cook Islands traditional canoe. Explore the Highland Paradise Cultural Center and delve into the Ariki political system through the examination of artifacts. Through lectures with local experts and visits to shops and a school, experience life on the islands and the effects that the arts, ecology, politics and more have historically had and how they might impact the future.
Activity Level
Keep the Pace
Walking up to two miles a day over pavement, dirt paths, grass, gravel. Some stairs, getting on and off a small motorcoach and boat, walking and standing up to 1.5 hours.
Small Group
Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.
Best of all, you’ll…
- Keep an eye out for the kakerori, or Fly-Catcher, in the Takitumu Conservation Area and learn how this endemic species was brought back from the brink of extinction.
- Taste sweet fresh fruits and coconut-steeped ika mata and learn about the transmission of plants and agricultural knowledge by Polynesian voyagers.
- Visit a local elementary school on Rarotonga and learn about education, language and the Cook Islands’ international connections.
Suggested Reading List
(17 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Oceanic Treasures: The Cook Islands and French Polynesia
Program Number: 25485
Tahiti & French Polynesia Guide
This authoritative, in-depth guide covers all French Polynesia, including not just Tahiti and the Society Islands (the author lives on Moorea) but also the little-discovered Austral Islands and the alluring Marquesas. Sixth edition.
Ocean Duets
This stunning portfolio of sea life celebrates the ocean's biodiversity with great color photographs and informative text.
South Sea Tales
These entertaining tales, set among both real and mythical islands, show Stevenson's keen observations of island life.
Reef Fish Identification, Tropical Pacific
This comprehensive guide to Indo-Pacific reef fishes features 2,500 color photographs.
All Good Things, From Paris to Tahiti
Her French husband posted to French Polynesia, the chipper Australian Turnbull, said husband and West Highland Terrier, Maddie, decamp from Paris to Moorea in this endearing memoir, which is about, among many things, her newborn son.
Tales of the South Pacific
The first of the big Michener novels, set in World War II Polynesia. It's great fun, and the basis for the Rogers & Hammerstein musical "South Pacific."
We, the Navigators, The Ancient Art of Landfinding in the Pacific
This engaging classic examines how Stone Age Polynesians may have navigated the Pacific. The scholarly volume will appeal to seafarers and modern Pacific travelers.
Lonely Planet Fijian Phrasebook
This handy pocket phrasebook includes pronunciation, basic grammar and essential vocabulary.
Pacific Journeys
A striking portfolio of 330 color photographs of the people, nature and landscape of the region, Hendrie's gorgeous book includes images from his many journeys to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, to Tahiti and the Marquesas, Tonga, Fiji, Easter Island and Hawaii over the last 20 years.
Oceanic Art
A concise, cogent and colorful overview of the gorgeous art of the Pacific Islands. Organized thematically with 182 illustrations, 26 in color.
South Pacific Islands Map
Covering the Pacific from Pitcairn to Papua New Guinea at a scale of 13:000,000. With 30 individual island maps, including Easter Island, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, Marquesas, French Polynesia, Vanuatu and Fiji.
The Happy Isles of Oceania
The peripatetic author flies off to Australia and New Zealand with a kayak and ends up exploring much of Melanesia and Polynesia, including Tonga, Fiji and the Marquesas, in this wickedly funny, wide-ranging tale.
Blue Hope
In this informative, dazzling collection of photographs, maps and essays, deep-sea crusader Sylvia Earle pays tribute to the ocean. Her aim: to encourage us to love the ocean -- all life on Earth, she writes, depends on it.
Noa Noa, The Tahiti Journal
Gauguin’s impressions of two years in French Polynesia, originally published in 1919. With 24
black-and-white illustrations.
Coral Reef Fishes
This compact handbook features 2,500 illustrations of shallow-water fishes around the world.
Mutiny on the Bounty
The well-known (and loved) fictional account of the voyage of the HMS Bounty, greatly enjoyable despite its probable lack of accuracy regarding Bligh's personality.
Aphrodite's Island, The European Discovery of Tahiti
Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, James Cook, Samuel Wallis and many more early European voyagers join local heroes, Tahitian warriors and kings in this authoritative, richly detailed history of French Polynesia and its allure. Author and anthropologist Anne Salmond (Two Worlds, The Trail of the Cannibal Dogs) is a professor at the University of Auckland.
