On the map (if you can find them at all!) they are just 15 tiny dots in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean...but together they're the Cook Islands, a unique paradise nation of warm and friendly people and stunning scenery.
Aitutaki - one of the islands - has been used as the location for the US TV series, 'Survivor'on CBS and the UK series, 'Shipwrecked' on Channel 4 TV.

You can find out more about all the Islands at http://www.cookislands.org.uk - the only independent, non-commercial guide on the net to all of the Cook Islands.

This is part one of a two part guide to all of the Cook Islands. And even if you can't visit them in person, hopefully this will give you an idea of why they're so special.

The film has been split into two parts because YouTube doesn't allow videos longer than 10 minutes. This part covers 8 of the 9 islands in the southern group. Part two will follow very soon. In the meantime, escape to a different world..or as one Australian author put it, to a place "where today is forever and tomorrow never comes.



(I am indebted to an amazing man called Gerald McCormack for the footage of the kopeka and the stills of some of islands' bird life. He's created the definitive database about the islands' flora and fauna at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org/D... which I can't recommend too highly. Additional stills are courtesy of Marcus Gleinig and Ewan Smith of Air Rarotonga and Graeme Whitfield of Summerfield Systems, Rarotonga)