Kauai is known as the ‘jungle’ island of the Hawaiian Archipelago. It is the oldest island, therefore having the longest amount of time to establish life. Kauai’s beauty is its vast amount of untouched paradise. Only 10% of the island is accessible by car. To see the other 90% of the island leaves you with boat, helicopter and a limited amount of hiking trails. Alongside driving and hiking, we opted for a helicopter tour. Some of the places the helicopter covered are the Napali coastline, Jurassic falls, Waialeale: the wettest place on earth, and the tallest waterfall on earth. Seeing Kauai by air was phenomenal.
NAPALI COAST LINE
The must see of Kauai is the famous Napali Coastline. Without going by boat or helicopter, the only way to see the Napali coastline is an 11-mile hike along the Kalalau trial from Kee Beach, or viewed from the cliffs at Kilalau Point. The start of the Kilalau Point cliff hike is accessible by car. I considered the 11-mile hike but I was travelling with my young niece and nephews so no one could come with me on the hike. (Although this didn’t stop me at my next stop, The Big Island. I wanted to do the 10-mile hike out to the lava flowing into the ocean. I hitchhiked part of the way and went on my own!) We ended up booking a helicopter tour we hiked along the cliffs at Kilealau point.
JURRASIC FALLS
Jurassic falls is where Jurassic Park is filmed and it is only accessible by helicopter. As we were flying by and preparing to land at Jurassic Falls, the pilot played the theme song from Jurassic Park and I felt like I was in the movie. Everyone thought it was hilarious. The helicopter landed in a clearing and it was short walk over to the falls. It was pretty magical and a rare experience to have only my group there and zero other tourists. (Image credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/JurassicPark/comments/25aer0/took_a_doorless_helicopter_ride_over_kauai_i/
There are some more parts of Kauai Island I didn’t include but I intend to post a future instalment. I don’t have my hand written travel journal on me. Once I have my journal as a reference I’ll be able to get some more details on endangered monk seals, Waimea Canyon, various waterfalls and beaches ect. THIS IS THE IMPORTANCE OF A JOURNAL. I’ve travelled before and forgotten a lot of my past experiences. I’m sure this rings true for most people. Keep a journal because the act of writing it down also helps solidify moments into your memory.
Below are some other photos I took from the helicopter island tour.