SURVIVOR SERIES 13: AITUTAKI COOK ISLANDS

Series 13 of the TV hit “Survivor” will be filmed on location at Aitutaki Island. Survivor’s production crew will be arriving April 20th and filming from June 5th through August 4th in Aitutaki's quintessential blue lagoon.

The idyllic uninhabited islands of Motorakau and Rapota are located half a mile apart in the remote tropical paradise of the Aitutaki atoll. This is part of The Cook Islands deep in heart of the South Pacific. The tropical climate, palm fringed white-sand beaches and crystal-clear turquoise waters packed full of multicoloured corals and tropical fish, means the Survivor experience will undoubtedly be a memorable one.

The Aitutaki atoll consists of a reef surrounding the main inhabited island of Aitutaki and 21 uninhabited ‘motu’ or small islands which include the two used by Survivor. The stunning turquoise lagoon is enormous at 12km wide and 15km long and averages 10.5m in depth. There are plenty of edible fish in the lagoon from tiny whitebait to barracuda – so as long as the castaways can work out how to catch them they won’t go hungry!

The majority of marine life in the lagoon is completely harmless, but the castaways must wear the reef shoes provided at all times when swimming or climbing around rock and reef areas. The hard soles on the shoes protect feet from sharp corals and potentially hazardous creatures like stone fish and sea snakes (although incidents are extremely rare.)

The two tribal camps will be Motu Rakau and Motu Rapota. Motorakau is small but perfectly formed with a beach on either side of a main clearing, a higher interior, a rocky outcrop, and ‘Plato’s Platform’ – a secluded cliff top with a fantastic view.

The neighbouring island of Rapota is slightly larger and more rugged in appearance. It has one more beach and inland the terrain gets much steeper with denser vegetation on the higher ground. On the north side, a group of large black rocks offers an ideal place to get away from it all. It was once home to the leper colony of Aitutaki, leprosy was highly prevalent there up to WWII.

Both islands are covered with palm trees meaning unlimited coconuts and fronds (leaves) for weaving a shelter roof and walls. There is a scattering of fruit trees (bananas, limes and mangoes) but the majority bear very little fruit. Although there is nothing dangerous on the islands, there are plenty of creepy crawlies such as hermit crabs, gecko lizards, spiders, flies, and harmless scorpions; easily capable of scaring the unwary!

The two islands have already been used for the location of Channel 4 Britain’s Shipwrecked: Battle of the islands www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/S/shipwrecked

“Tribal Council” will be filmed near Vainamu, Arutanga on the main island of Aitutaki.

Motukitiu will feature as “Exile Island” and Motu Maina will feature as the “Overnight Reward” location.

The “Mutiny Motel” and challenges will be filmed on Motu Akiami, the former home of a WWII flying boat base and home to “Akaiami Island Lodge” www.coralroute.com

Akaiami Lodge is the historical site where TEAL flying boats landed while plying the Coral Route through the South Pacific during the 1940s and 50s. TEAL (Tasman Empire Airways Limited) became Air New Zealand, and the Coral Route remains, but there are no longer the flying boats. The Lodge has been rebuilt on the exact spot where the original terminal stood.

This isn’t the island’s first brush with Hollywood, here the well-to-do of the 1950s, including movie stars such as John Wayne, Cary Grant and the like, stopped for a few hours or even overnight while the planes were serviced or waited for weather to clear.

You can see detailed maps created by Dan Bollinger here…

www.claycritters.com/map/s13/survivor_13_map.htm

STAYING IN AITUTAKI

This archipelago is described by all and sundry as “like Tahiti was 20 years ago”, and it’s easy to immerse yourself in tropical-island life.

www.aitutaki.com
http://aitutaki.com
www.aitutaki.net
www.islandhoppervacations.com/cook/default.htm
http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/thorn/topics.pl?Cat=&Start=pacific
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=3

RESORTS

www.jetsave.co.ck/aitutaki_island.htm Good Link with images
www.aretamanu.com
www.aitutakilagoonresort.com
www.etumoana.com
www.popoara.com
www.seaside-aitutaki.com/index.htm
www.esmavillas.com/Index.html
www.aretaibeachvillas.com

COOK ISLAND LINKS

www.cook-islands.com
www.cookislandsusa.com
www.culture.gov.ck
www.ck/index.html
www.tourismcookislands.com
www.cook.islands-beaches.com
www.webcentral.co.ck
www.cinews.co.ck
www.pacificdivers.co.ck
www.hideawayholidays.com.au/rar_acc.htm

PLACES TO STAY

Here are my recommended places to stay…

ONE FOOT HIDEAWAY
One Foot Island (Motu Tapuaetai)

An exotic place to stay for the adventurous. This rather primitive beach batch is the only place to stay on beautiful One Foot Island (a remote motu of Aitutaki) and offers you a chance to "live the dream" of being stranded in a remote tropical paradise.

When movie producers go looking for the ultimate vision of tropical beach beauty, Tapuaetai is the blueprint. This South Pacific motu (islet) features a shoreline of the finest white sand and spots of shade provided by palms leaning out over the lapis-lazuli-colored lagoon. Its long stretch of sugary sand and shallow translucent water has been compared to the beauty of Tahiti's Bora Bora. Island beaches don't get better than this.

It is located about 20 minutes boat ride from the main island. Legend has it that a boy was carried across the island by his father and hidden in a coconut palm to escape wrathful enemies. Thus the enemies were tricked into thinking only one person had been on the island. The boy’s life was saved, and hence the name Tapuaetai.

There is no electricity here. Lighting is by kerosene lamps and cooking by a gas oven top or BBQ. Food supplies are apparently brought to you each day on the large catamaran that brings in the daily load of tourists (see the "Activities" section). At 4 PM or so, the day boats go home and the entire motu (most assuredly one of the MOST lovely in the entire South Pacific . Your nearest neighbor will probably be several miles away across the lagoon and for all intents and purposes, you will be the only people in the world. Sounds pretty romantic eh?

Contact: Lucky Nicholls
mango@aitutaki.net.ck
$200 per night

AKAIAMI LODGE
Akaiami Island
http://www.coralroute.com/
www.ck/akaiami/index.htm
www.ck/akaiami/index2.htm
www.coralroute.com/tour.html

This is home to the tribal challenges, and I am pretty sure it’s booked out during filming, but hey give it a try! Akaiami Lodge offers one hand-crafted lodge finished to immaculate taste. The Lodge is a spacious building, 8 x 16 metres (approx 24 x 48 feet, nearly 1200 square feet) rebuilt on the exact spot where the original terminal stood. The Lodge has a fully equipped kitchen including refrigeration, electric lighting, ceiling and bed fans (all solar powered) as well as kerosene lamps. Other than that, you will find no TV, no video, no radio, in fact, no gizmos of any kind to distract you from what you came to enjoy –peace and quiet on the most spectacular, crescent-shaped, perfect white sand beach on earth. You will find a quality double kayak, use of which is included in your daily rate. This is a unique opportunity to spend some time alongside one of the most exquisite beaches and swimming lagoons in the Cook Islands. Welcome to paradise ...

PACIFIC RESORT
http://www.pacificresort.com/

The perfect indulgence if you fancy splurging for a night or three.

MATRIKI BEACH HUTS
Matthias and Riki Hagen

PO Box 32, Aitutaki, Cook Islands
Phone/Fax (+682) 31564
Website: http://www.matriki.com/
Email: matriki@aitutaki.net.ck

which costs NZ$30 to NZ$37.50 per person per night double, NZ$45 to $55 single.. What people chiefly come to see here is the lagoon: chalk-white beaches, slender coconut palms and more blues than David Hockney’s paint palette.