Right here at Hawaii Aloha Journey, we have now lengthy advocated for customer schooling excursions and packages that concentrate on native Hawaiian ecology and tradition. Helewai Eco Tours on Maui is precisely the sort of group we suggest for guests focused on getting extra out of their Hawaii trip than tan strains souvenirs. The mission was based in 2019 by Kevin Schenk, the son of a multi-generational Maui household steeped in a dedication to stewardship of the island’s pure and cultural heritage.
Helewai Eco Excursions offers restricted entry to personal preservation lands within the Puu Kukui Watershed Protect excessive within the West Maui Mountains above the bustling resort cities of Kaanapali and the West Maui shoreline. Its guides are professional naturalists and Hawaiian cultural practitioners that present deep perception into the Valley Isle’s most valuable and essential supply of contemporary water.
Certainly, the Puu Kukui Watershed offers 60% of Maui’s contemporary water, together with the resorts of West Maui and all the way in which to Wailea, many miles to the southeast. A partnership with the Puu Kukui Watershed Reserve grants tour-goers entry to pristine watershed forests teeming with native natural world in any other case inaccessible to hikers.
After a gap oli, or prayer, that serves as a respectful announcement of the presence of tourists, Helewai Eco Excursions’ guides share with guests (and, usually, Maui residents and college students) the significance of the Puu Kukui watershed to Maui’s freshwater provide. Additionally they clarify its very important position in maintaining the colourful coral reef ecosystem of West Maui wholesome, which makes the realm such a wildly in style customer vacation spot. In any case, water flows downhill. The excessive mountain forest prevents soil erosion and prevents rainfall from changing into muddy runoff water, of little use and infrequently a well being hazard downstream. An unhealthy watershed above means a susceptible shoreline under.
The well being of the Puu Kukui Watershed Reserve is important to the preservation of Maui’s pure and cultural assets. And the one technique to really perceive that significance is to study from the ecologists and cultural practitioners who make it their life’s work to make sure the well being, conservation and preservation of its assets. Helewai Eco Excursions is a really immersive pure and cultural expertise.
However it’s not all classes and lectures on the Helewai Eco Tour. Aerial roots of an enormous banyan tree supply the chance for Tarzan vine swinging enjoyable. Relying on the time of 12 months, the tour additionally offers a bounty of nature’s personal snacks: lilikoi (ardour fruit), guava, and different candy treats that actually develop on timber (and vines).
The tour/hike includes a one-mile hike to the highest of the protect, the place the ocean views and photo-ops are gorgeous. The stroll again down the path is average, and the tour concludes with a cease on the magnificent Honolua Bay with snacks and refreshments. Though the tour is just not wheelchair accessible, service animals are welcome.
At a time when over-tourism and imperiled pure assets are inflicting grave considerations amongst Hawaii residents, native Hawaiians, and companies that depend on tourism income, eco-tourism is the obvious and instant means for guests to have a constructive impression on Hawaii’s future. Hawaii Aloha Journey extremely recommends Helewai Eco Excursions for Hawaii guests focused on pure, cultural, and historic preservation.
Posted by: Jamie Winpenny
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