Secret Garden of Love on Motu Piti Aau

Tiki and portrait photos from the Secret Garden of Love

If you’ve ever seen or heard of the “Love Locks Bridge” in Paris on Le Pont des Arts*, it turns out there’s something of an equivalent in French Polynesia. A “Secret Garden of Love” on Bora Bora’s Motu Piti Aau was created in early 2016 on the grounds of the Intercontinental Thalasso’s botanical garden.

Love locks on palm tree rings in the Intercontinental Thalasso’s Secret Garden of Love on Bora Bora’s Motu Piti Aau.

A Tiki figure sits at the center of the garden on top of a stone pedestal. Couples are meant to attach their personal lock on a palm tree ring by theme (turtle, sun, seashell or lizard {each with specific meanings}), then drop the key inside the Tiki’s mouth to protect their eternal love.

This Tiki god holds all of the keys to the love locks hung in the garden and is meant to safeguard eternal love.

Short video (8 sec) of Will playing on the Tiki figure. Can you hear the tropical breezes in the palm fronds?

My husband and I aren’t particularly enthusiastic about locks as symbols of devotion (if you love something set it free and all that jazz) so we didn’t take part in this Parisian, now French Polynesian ~ & in fact global ~ ritual, but I assure you we’re still romantic souls!

Here’s a pic of me taking photos in the garden. We never ran into other visitors in the quiet jardin while vacationing at the Thalasso (hence the name “secret”?) though we did hear plenty of birdsong and saw some cute lizards with yellow-orange-ish stripes down their backs.

Laura Farrell (yours truly) photographing palm trees, plants and flowers in the Intercontinental Thalasso resort’s botanical garden.

*The lock phenomenon on le Pont des Arts was discontinued some years ago due to excessive weight that had caused a portion of Le Pont des Arts bridge railing to collapse. So much for eternal anything!