Vahanga

NASA satellite image of Vahanga

Map of Vahanga

Vahanga is a small atoll 5 miles west of Tenarunga. It is located in the Acteon Group in the southeastern part of the Tuamotu Islands. Vahanga is a low atoll covered with coconut trees. There is a landing place on the northwest side of the atoll, near a white house, but there is no access to the lagoon.

Vahanga, like the rest of the Acteon Group, belongs to the municipality of the Gambier Islands.

In 2007, an ecological project conducted by the University of Auckland and the Ornithological Society of Polynesia aimed to eradicate Vahanga's Polynesian Rats, which had colonized the atoll, to restore balance to the ecosystem supporting bird species such as the Polynesian Ground-dove and the Tuamotu Sandpiper. A previous campaign in 2000 had failed in this goal.

References

• Sailing Directions, Pub 126, "Pacific Islands" NIMA 2002; page 12

External links

• Atoll list (in French)