He’s one of several residents who have worked to educate visitors and return some elements of Hawaiian culture to the people from whom it originated. The industry must change to improve the futures of Native Hawaiians, Kajihiro told CNN. “It conditions visitors to feel entitled.” “I think that it is too easy for people to visit places like Hawaii,” Kajihiro said. The tourism industry in Hawaii powers its state revenue, but that reliance on tourism has resulted in Native Hawaiians getting priced out of their homes, climate change wreaking havoc on the natural landscape, and a lack of respect for the 50th state that is also the ancestral land of more than half a million people. Residents have to take a trip to Hilo or Kona for these services.But as it exists now, the powerful tourism industry dictates the lives of Native Hawaiians, often for the worse, said Kyle Kajihiro, a lecturer at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and activist for the rights of Native Hawaiians. Don’t expect to find a mall or a big box discount store here. There’s a Saturday morning farmer’s market, bed and breakfast, an old hotel, barbershops, restaurants, bakeries and a video outlet. The Hamakua Times is published once a month, and television, radio, cell service and Internet access are available. Honokaʻa’s main street is a picture of tranquility with historic storefronts, a few shops and restaurants and a church steeple rising from a hill above the street. It’s also a place that suffered huge economic upheaval with the loss of its major industry, sugarcane. Honoka’a, the biggest town on the Hāmākua Coast, is a postcard-perfect icon for an idyllic, pre-9/11 community where kids grow up safe and happy. Photo courtesy of Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) / Tor Johnson. Postcard-perfect Honokaʻa Waipio Valley lookout point. It features a waterfall that drops directly from a small cliff into a stream. Kolekole Beach Park, downstream from ʻAkaka Falls, is another good pick. The Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, just outside Hilo, and the World Botanical Gardens, where Umauma Falls is located, are good stops. Located near Honomū, about 10 miles north of Hilo, this spectacular waterfall drops more than 400 feet. Worthwhile stops along the way include ʻAkaka Falls on Highway 220. Stunningly Beautiful ʻAkaka Falls Akaka Falls. Today, trees, coffee and tourism are fueling the economy.
The last commercial operation shut down in 1996, but signs of the sugar era are everywhere. Unlike the Road to Hāna, where waterfalls almost splash in your face, the Hāmākua drive calls for occasional detours to view spectacular waterfalls and botanical gardens.įor more than a century, life on the Hāmākua Coast revolved around its huge sugar cane industry.
Photo courtesy of Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens. Spectacular Waterfalls and Botanical Gardens Onomea Falls. Tiny hamlets, once sugar plantation towns, are scattered along the highway adding perspective to the intense display of raw nature that frames the coastal roadway. This section of the Big Island’s windward coast was formed by the flanks of two volcanoes Mauna Kea and Kohala, rising in the distance beyond the highway. Above the highway the mountainside is blanketed in green fed by rushing mountain streams. Highway 19 rises above high erosional cliffs that drop to the foaming surf of the Pacific far below.
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Photo courtesy of Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) / Tor Johnson.Īlthough not as well-storied as Maui’s scenic drive to Hāna, the 45-mile Hāmākua Coast road trip from Hilo to Honoka’a is a fairy tale journey through never, never land where time appears to stand still and nature’s grandeur comes full stage. Onomea Bay lookout near Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens. Spectacular Waterfalls and Botanical Gardens.
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