From volcanoes spewing forth fiery lava to coral reefs sheltering in the cool ocean depths, the Hawaiian Islands offer a rich array of Nature’s marvels. While sharing certain features in common, each island remains distinct.
Exotic flowers, cascading waterfalls, geyser-like blowholes, rare species that exist nowhere else on earth— these are just a few of Hawai‘i’s natural treasures. Ni‘ihau and Kaua‘i, the northernmost of the main islands, are geologically the oldest. Over eons, mountains and reefs have been worn away by wind and water to produce long stretches of golden beaches composed of tiny bits of eroded rock, shell, and coral.
Hawai‘i, also called the Big Island, is the southernmost, largest, and newest of the main islands. It was built by the successive eruptions of five different volcanoes and is home to Volcanoes National Park. Though much of the island is covered in barren lava and ash, the cloudforest highlands of Kona produce some of the world’s finest coffee, along with rare native plants, birds, bats, and insects.
In the some three-hundred miles between the Big Island and Kaua‘i lie the islands of Maui, Moloka‘i, Lāna‘i, Kaho‘olawe and O‘ahu—each blessed in its own way with an astonishing abundance of distinctive natural gifts.