In today’s world of technology with navigational aids in the palms of our hands, getting from here to there is pretty much a cinch. On land, smartphones provide turn-by-turn driving directions, and GPS devices can pinpoint your exact location on the globe, even in the middle of the sea. But at the turn of the […]
There I was, standing in front of the Historic County Building in downtown Lihue one afternoon last November, wrapping a tape measure around the thick trunk of an old kukui when I realized it was official: I am a tree hugger. That’s not a big surprise. I grew up in the Midwest climbing trees. This
Every fall and winter, humpback whales migrate to Hawaii to mate and give birth. Their presence doesn’t go unnoticed. Measuring up to 60 feet in length and weighing up to 40 tons, these marine mammals are hard to miss. And, yet, they can be quite shy when it comes to their reproductive activities in Hawaii
Plants have stories. That point was made clear during the last week of September on Kauai when two famed botanists sat down with award-winning photographer Susan Middleton to talk about the plants featured in a new exhibit at the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) in Kalaheo titled Remains of a Rainbow: Rare Plants and Animals of
It was a grey and drizzling day last September when scientists on the island of Niihau discovered an emaciated female Hawaiian monk seal pup still sporting its black lanugo coat. She was, they thought at first glance, a newborn. But instead of trying to suckle her mother for milk, the hungry seal, named Kilo, approached
“You might want to wear these,” said Laura Berthold, handing me a pair of rain pants. Four days of rain had triggered the cancellation of two previous outings we’d planned to explore Waikamoi Preserve, a sanctuary for native Hawaiian plants and animals on the slopes of Haleakalā volcano. Berthold and I were finally meeting under
Sitting at the fingertip-shaped end of a narrow mountain ridge in camouflage pants and rubber boots, Dr. André Raine plucks a white-splattered leaf from an old ohia tree and holds it to his nose. It’s a rare sunny day here, in the mountains high above the town of Kalaheo on Kauai’s west side. A bog
The sun was starting to angle for the horizon when Cas Schwabe looked at me, eyes watering, the hair on her arms standing on end—a phenomenon Hawaii residents call chicken skin, and the rest of the world refers to as goosebumps. We had been sitting on a bluff at the edge of a horse pasture
