Cook Islands

Cook Islands - The Cook Islands are a self-governing parliamentary democracy in free association with New Zealand. The 15 small islands in this South Pacific Ocean have a total land area of 240 sq. km. Tourism is the country's number one industry, the leading element of the economy, far ahead of offshore banking, pearls, marine and fruit exports. A popular art form on the islands is tivaivai, often likened to quilting.

Scattered on the vast expanse of empty ocean the size of Western Europe, the little Cook Islands is really a castaway’s dream arrive true. If you’ve ever fantasised about escaping to a remote desert island, far from the hustle and hum in the modern-day world, then seem no extra than these 15 useful islands, exactly where you’ll find a thousand years of Polynesian culture sitting side by side with some of the most spectacular natural scenery within the South Pacific. The jewel in the crown is Rarotonga, the largest island – a bewitching blend of craggy mountains, dense jungle and glorious bone-white beaches – but you very must get out and explore some of the other islands as well. The hook-shaped atoll of Aitutaki, the second most visited by tourists, sits at the top of a single in the world’s largest coral lagoons, packed with giant clams and technicolour tropical fish, and ringed by small uninhabited islets, known as motu, around its outer edges. Then there’s the small, rocky island of ‘Atiu, with its limestone caves, coffee plantations and bush-beer drinking; the makatea islands of Mau’ke, Mitiaro and Mangaia, wherever conventional village life nevertheless predominates; and the far-flung black pearl fields of Penrhyn and Manihiki, which most targeted traffic in no way get the chance to see.

But don’t plan on making as well much. Time, like most other points inside Cook Islands, includes a mind of its own. Days roll by from the island tides: a single morning you’ll be exploring taro plantations, swimming in underground caves and dancing till dawn of the locals, as well as the next, a plane are going to be waiting to take in you home. Make the most of it although you can – paradise is often a fairly tough place to find.