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Te Rua Manga, also called The Needle, is a pointy rock formation peeking through the green wild jungle of Rarotonga and it is also the most famous (as well as difficult) hike to do here. When you start on the north, you hike through the whole island and get out of the jungle on the south, ot you can try the other way around from south to north. This was a must-do for us, so on our 3^rd morning in Cook Islands, we packed some snacks, lots of water, bug spray and sunscreen, hailed the bus and headed north. the needle hike rarotonga

The thing is, that the hike itself is not as long if you have a car so you can drive to the parking lot. But from the bus stop it’s another hour just to reach the beginning of the jungle. Cook Islanders are very nice people though and one lady gave us a lift on the back of her truck and saved us maybe 3 km… So lucky!

THE NEEDLE HIKE ON RAROTONGA - COOK ISLANDS

STARTING ON THE NORTH

The first part of the hike was easier, even though it’s uphill. There are little orange signs to show you “the way”, but there’s no real path, we had to climb over and through massive overgrown roots of old trees most of the time. I think the whole experience would be easier if silly me would pack normal shoes, not just a pair of converse, which weren’t suitable at all for this type of trek.

ON THE TOP

In my mind, I thought that once we get up there, there’s going to be some “relaxing” area where we can sit down maybe and enjoy the view. Well, I was mistaken! The Needle is rising up right from the jungle. Where the jungle ends, the rock begins, so there’s no place to sit. If you want to enjoy the view, you have climb up the steep rocks. There are chains and ropes to help you.

The struggle is really worth it, the view is simply amazing! Climbing down from the Needle was a little scary because my legs already felt like jelly and you really have to hold on to those ropes not to fell down, so you must be really careful. Funny thing is that even here you can find some chickens and proud roosters just walking around, like they own the place.

THE WAY DOWN

Now the way down! You can choose, if you want to go back the same way, which is shorter, or cross the whole island. We decided to cross Raro and so we took the longer path.

Because my converse didn’t have much of a grip, slippery and muddy path was a real challenge for me. Also on the way south, there are many stream crossings. Many! We were just following the path through the jungle, which was really dense at some points, and then the path disappeared. When we were looking for the orange mark to see which way to go, we found it on the other side of a small river. It would be okay, but there was like one bigger stone in the middle, so to get to the other side, it required us to jump quite far. I will not lie, at some points I really thought I can’t do it. I just wanted to go right through the water. The river follows the path through the jungle all the time and you’ll cross it many times. As I said, jungle is dense, but as long as you can hear or see the river, you are not lost.

REWARD AT THE END

Once we got out of the jungle, all dirty and sweaty, we got an amazing reward – Wigmore’s waterfall waiting for us to dip in. It was refreshing to jump into the cold water ( it was even worth the 100 mosquito bites).

The tourism office of Cook Islands recommends tour guides for this hike, who will lead you through the jungle and tell you some stories about first Polynesian people in this area, however, as you can see, it’s possible to do it alone. You just need to follow the path and not to get lost, because the jungle is wild.

Although the nature in Cook Islands is lush and wild, there are not dangerous and poisonous animals living on the islands! The animals you will meet on your hike are chickens and mosquitoes.

The jungle slowly changed into fern land and after about 30 minutes we got onto the main road. Now we were facing another challenge, because we were still 8 km away from our home in Ariki and after we paid for our burgers in the first food stall we could find, we run out of cash for the bus. Luckily, as I mentioned before, Cook Islanders are the most amazing people and after less than 10 minutes of hitchhiking we got a lift from a nice lady who came to Raro for a wedding.

That night we fall asleep like babies and even the loud roosters didn’t bother us.

Even though the hike wasn’t very long, the hot humid weather, crazy jungle and my poor choice of footwear made it the most difficult hike of my life (I am not a skilled hiker but I’m trying my best). Until Te Rua Manga, hiking Mount Batur was my favorite hike. The most difficult hikes are also most rewarding. And if I am lucky enough to visit Rarotonga again in the future, I would do this trek again!