Today I took a tour of the Kilauea Wildlife Refuge. One week out of the year, they give hiking tours, and I was lucky enough to be here during that week. I woke up early this morning (had to get some work done before the tour began at 9:00) and saw a beautiful sunrise—look how the light beams down through the clouds in segments!
The tour began in the parking lot above the Kilauea Lighthouse. It sprinkled on and off all morning, so when we (all of the hikers who had signed up for the tour—I didn’t know anyone except a friend of my employer’s, whom I met there when we checked in for the hike) arrived and were admiring the view from the parking lot, we saw the end of a rainbow. It’s hard to make out in the pictures, but the bow goes straight down into the water. I’ve never actually seen the end of a rainbow before—it was mesmerizing how it sank into the ocean!
After all the hikers checked in and our tour guide gave us her opening spiel, we drove the short distance to the trail entree point, which was actually in my gated community. We began the hike at Lookout Point (where I saw the sunset on my first full day here), from where we could see the entire rainbow. Beautiful! The picture just doesn't do it justice.
Once we entered the wildlife refuge by way of a tiny path through a thicket, we came to an open clearing and circled up for an Enlightenment Chant. The tour guide led the group in a traditional Hawaiian chant asking the universe for enlightenment and harmony with the land. Many of the people on the tour had grown up in Hawaii and knew the chant as well (it was in Hawaiian, obviously), so they all chanted together in a hypnotic melody. The purpose of the chant, according to the tour guide, was to center ourselves and ask the universe to show us signs and send us messages through nature. The spirituality of the natives is interesting to say the least… that will deserve a post all of its own.
The tour wasn’t, as I was expecting it to be, a tour of the lighthouse and the Wildlife preserve, though we did hike through much of grounds. It was more of a history lesson on the seabirds of the island—which was interesting in its own way. Let’s take a photo tour, shall we? :) Here’s a couple shots of our tour guide (Jennifer) showing us the skull of a Frigate bird and pictures of the male and female Red-Footed Booby, and also a pictures of the plaque in the parking lot above the lighthouse.
If you’re not interested in birds, you can skip this entertaining bit of information, but I’m not into birds and I still found it intriguing! The Frigate birds (top left corner of the plaque picture) have an interesting way of feeding. They fly amongst the Red-Footed Boobies (haha... yes, I’m the girl who still laughs at the word “boobies.” Get over it.) and have some sort of built-in sensor that lets them know which of the Boobies has eaten recently. They pester that Booby (pecking, swooping around, etc.) until the Booby regurgitates its food mid-flight, which the Frigates then catch and eat. Isn’t that cool?! And totally disgusting? I love it!
Here are a couple shots of the Nene, or the Hawaiian Goose, which is the state bird.
We stopped at a cliff overlook and caught a glimpse of a beach that is completely surrounded by sheer cliffs and is only accessible by kayak. The water was so clear and green-blue!
And lastly, we walked through a nesting ground for some sort of bird whose name I don’t remember, and had the rare pleasure of seeing a hatchling poke its head out of its hole.
All in all it was a good morning! I wish I had gotten to see more of the rugged side of the preserve, but it was definitely worth it. (And hey, it was free!) Tonight I went to a young adult Bible Study, which was wonderful. The actually study of the Bible was… fine… question/answer type thing on a chapter in the book of Psalms. But the fellowship was the meaningful part, for me! I knew a couple of the people going into it, and met a few more… it was nice to just hang out and eat and chat and get to know everyone outside of the social constructs of “church.”
And now, I’m going to bed—I’m exhausted and its been a long day! I have to run an errand for my employer tomorrow, so I have to miss the kayak tour I had scheduled… but to make up for it, my employer is paying for me to go on a different kayak tour next week, and I’m more excited about this one! It will be a waterfall kayak tour of the Wailua River. A few of the specific projects my employer and I have been working on are winding down, so starting today I’ll get a bit of a break from the 60+ hour work-weeks and have some more time to explore the island and go to the BEACH! I’ve been here twelve days and have only gone to the beach once… that needs to be remedied quickly. Like, tomorrow.
Goodnight everyone! :)
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