Tobogganing on Banana Trees

 On the way to the beautiful Anakena beach my taxi driver told me I had just missed the banana tree competition.

The Haka Pei, or "banana tree-trunk toboggan run," involves participants dragging banana tree trunks to the top of the mountain Maunga Pu'i ,   and then sliding down the slope (a 200-meter high volcano with a 45-degree slope) on  two banana tree trunks lashed together. 

Competitors join hands on the summit of Maunga Pu'i, they chant, pray, and share a chicken leg before launching down the slope. The toboggan is made of two banana tree trunks lashed together. Competitors lie feet first on the toboggan. They accelerate downhill at speeds of up to 80km/hr hanging on by ropes, she told me it was very dangerous,  and that sometimes they would fly into the air, indeed we could see the groves down the mountainside and the goal is to  be the first and travel the farthest distance down the slope. It used to be an initiation ceremony for the young men of the island.