Survivor Marquesas - Survivor 4 Heads to French Polynesia

Photos courtesy of Tahiti Tourisme.

Were your bored with the desolate and colorless landscape of the Shaba National Reserve in Kenya, Africa? Did the battle of Samburu versus Boran in the African heat leave you cold? Do you long for the days when Richard Hatch skinny-dipped in the warm waters of the China Sea? In a return to its South Pacific roots, Survivor 4 will premier on February 28, 2002 from the island of Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Archipelago of French Polynesia.

For the first time the world's most popular reality TV show, Survivor, will take place on an island that you too can visit, although hopefully under more comfortable conditions than what the castaways will experience! 

Let's take a look a closer look at the island of Nuku Hiva.

• It is the largest (127 sq miles) and most populous (2,375 inhabitants) of the Marquesas islands.
• The island is fertile, with well-watered valleys; its highest point is approximately.4,000 ft. There are eight harbors, the best of which is Taiohae Bay on the southern coast.
• Taiohae (population 1,700) is also the largest town on the island. It is the administrative, economic, educational and health center of the Marquesas Islands.
• You can reach Nuku Hiva by plane from Papeete (Tahiti) or Rangiroa (Tuamotu Archipelago).
• Nuku Hiva was originally annexed as part of the United States in 1813, but this was never ratified by Congress. In 1842 the French erected Fort Collet and assumed control of the island.
• Two famous writers visited Nuku Hiva in the 1800's - Herman Melville and Robert Louis Stevenson. Melville set his novel "Typee" on the island.
• Most residents work for the government, the community, the Catholic church, or the school system. Others work for themselves chopping copra (dried kernels of the coconut) high in the mountains, fishing, raising cattle and other livestock, or sculpting bowls, platters, Marquesan ceremonial clubs, "tikis" and ukuleles.
• The bays on the northern coast of the island at Anaho and Hatiheu (the favorite of Robert Louis Stevenson) are two of the most beautiful in the South Pacific.
• Several reasonable accommodations are available in Taiohae as well as elsewhere on the island.
• There is no public transportation on Nuku Hiva and car rentals are usually expensive, and available only with a driver included. Hiking, therefore, is the preferred way to get around the island.

For more information about Nuku Hiva and the rest of Tahiti and French Polynesia, we highly recommend this book:

Moon Handbook: Tahiti
The best-known and most highly respected South Pacific travel writer, David Stanley, in conjunction with Moon Handbooks, presents this fully revised fourth edition of this outstanding travel guide to Tahiti (French Polynesia), Easter Islands and the Cook Islands.
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Relive the show that changed television forever, and added the phrases "Tribal Council" and "Immunity Challenge" to our national vocabulary.

Survivor Season 1: The Greatest and Most Outrageous Moments
Travel back to unspoiled Pilau Tiga and relive the unforgettable first season of Survivor. This collector's video (available on DVD and VHS) featuring never-before-seen footage that couldn't be shown on television, begins with the arrival of 16 strangers to the South China Seas and follows the castaways' 39-day quest for that $1,000,000 payday.
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Join us in our Hawaii/South Pacific Forum to discuss Survivor: Marquesas.