YOUNG AND FREE

Hawaii is among the most isolated inhabited places on earth. Human settlement started with a flotilla of Pacific islanders who reached the islands around 500AD. The eight tropical islands that compose the chain are the youngest geological formations in the world.  

Shaped by volcanic forces, Hawaii is really just the top of a ridge that consists of 80 volcanoes. Five volcanoes, two of which are still active today, created the Big Island. Scientists expect that a new island will form in the current location of the Big Island in about 30,000 years. While you won’t see that product, you can see the building blocks of it in the lava flows of Hawaii.  

Even the volcanoes look like nowhere else on earth. Everywhere else, they are cone-shaped. Scientists call Hawaii’s variety shield volcanoes as they look smooth and streamlined. This is due to slippery lava, different to volcanoes elsewhere that have sticky lava which forms high peaks around the caldera. The Na Pali coast offers a postcard image that consists of tall indented green cliffs that angle into the sea. It is what happens when volcanic lava creates land and water sculpts it.

EXTREME METEOROLOGY  

The Hawaii of your brochures shows sun, sand and sea. But it may come as a surprise that Hawaii stakes a claim as being the rainiest place on earth. 

There are biospheres created by alpine, humid and arid zones. These extremes are courtesy of the extremes of altitudes on the islands, ranging from the famed beaches to the mountains that reach 4200 metres. Such natural diversity makes Hawaii the varied but vulnerable destination that draws tourists from far and wide.  

The highest annual rainfall is dumped on Mount Waialeale, which in the record-breaking year of 1982 received more than 17.3 metres of rain. No wonder Waialeale translates as “overflowing water”. This biblical rain makes for some lush forest vegetation so it should come as no surprise that it has been used in films such as Jurassic Park.

Snowfall in Hawaii might an April Fool’s joke but on the summit of Mauna Kea seasonal snow caps the volcano and demarcates the highest point in Hawaii.

ALOHA AS LAW

The people of Hawaii are just as unique as their environment as the spirit of Aloha permeates all interactions. More than a greeting, the Aloha Spirit is defined in Hawaii statutes. “The Aloha Spirit is the coordination of mind and heart within each person. It brings each person to the self. Each person must think and emote good feelings to others,” it reads. There’s even an acronym that breaks down the concepts of the Aloha spirit. The “A” represents kindness, the “L” stands for unity, the “O” means agreeable, the “H” equals humility and the final “A” is to inspire patience.   

Court judges, legislators and even the governor are instructed to contemplate and consider this Aloha Spirit in making decisions and exerting power on the Hawaiian people. This was the philosophy of native Hawaiians and the statute verges into the beautifully whimsical. “Aloha means to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable,” it reads. In Hawaiian tradition, the realm of people was by the coast while the realm of the gods was in the mountains. The protocols for broaching the realm of the gods, in the forest, were rigorous, requiring a chant before entering.

A DAILY DOCUMENTARY  

Time to take to the jungle. Being the most isolated place on earth and the product of tectonic plate crashes, Hawaii would have been barren before birds and the trade winds travelled thousands of miles with the occasional seed and plant deposits. This haphazard propagation means that the plants of Hawaii have taken a unique evolutionary path, tailored to the specific environment of the islands. Perhaps because of its isolation, Hawaii has only two native mammals, the Hawaiian monk seal and the Hawaiian hoary bat, which are both endangered species.  

It more than fills the endemic bill with birds however. The honeycreeper is a study in adaptive evolution. This bird came from a single ancestor and adapted to survive and thrive as 56 distinct species, adjusting behaviour and biology to fit a niche in 56 environments. It was a mere 14 adaptations of finches on the Galapagos Islands that prompted Darwin’s theory of adaptive radiation, a crucial foundation of evolution. Sadly, the majority of the honeycreepers are extinct and only 18 remain. If you are in the forests of Hawaii, take a pair of binoculars to see a scientific theory expounded. Look out for the difference between beaks. The nectar-feeders have curved bills for flowers while the seed-eaters have a nut-cracker beak. Birds thrived because there were no land predators.
And while most travellers wouldn’t fancy a brush with a spider in Hawaii’s forests, the happy face spider looks more affable than most. The big yellow and black arachnid has markings on its back that resembles a happy face. It’s a reclusive species too, which should keep everyone else smiling.