Quest for the Mystery of Rapa Nui

Easter Island - or Rapa Nui as its indigenous population called it - lies thousands of miles out in the Pacific Ocean. Its civilizations have baffled researchers ever since it was discovered in the 17th century.

Once it was an oasis of 16 million palm trees, its coast lined by hundreds of Moai, statues of several tons each. Then, suddenly, the forest vanished, the Moai were toppled.