Waimea Valley

"The steep, junglelike terrain of the Waimea Valley, about an hour by car from Honolulu, is home to more than 5,500 species of plants and 1,875 acres of tropical rain forest stretching from the mountains to the sea. It also holds some of the rarest and most important native Hawaiian archaeological sites, including temples, countless burial caves, and stone fishing shrines where fishermen once appealed to the gods for blessed, prolific journeys."  NY Times.

 This is our very first trip to Waimea Valley, and it will not be our last. There is so much to see and the Kamaina Rates make it quite affordable!

Check out the size of this green Anole! (most of the ones see are about the size of this guy's back leg!)

Though the waterfall is the main attraction here, we spent hours and hours in the gardens and trails.

As usual the plants are so big, thick, and shiny, they totally look fake!

Many of the plants had labels, but most were either their Scientific Name or Hawaiian Name, so I forgot most of them But WOW they were beautiful!

All of the trails we found were beautifully constructed and well kept!

Here is Richard in one of the recreated structures at one of the historical sites.

We love love love the roots on these trees!

Jungle Fowl! (more commonly called 'Chicken')

Loved the colors on these! Their shape reminded me of impatiens.

Fun little fuzzy flower/seedpods? I like the red veins on the leaves.

Dr Seuss?

Isn't the corkscrew growth pattern on these neat?

This type of plant still blows my mind... the flower within a flower:

Richard with a giant dead leaf

I liked the inside of this long trumpet shaped fower

These may be related to Poinsettias

A type of Orchid?

 These thorny vines/bushes grow everywhere on the island. Another case of a flower within a flower:

These reminded me of Columbines:

These two next ones smelled HEAVENLY! I think this one is White Ginger:

No idea but So pretty and sooo fragrant:

Oh Hey look we found the falls!

We were going to go swimming but you have to wear a life vest...I dont think they wash the life vests... and there were a lot of people there... We decided to go back into the trails and flowers.

Look! This tree has curly hair: 

Can you guess what these flowers grow to be? 

Starfruit! 

More Chickens!

These are my favorite birds on the island:


They are Common Wax Bills. They only grow to be 4" and feed on grass seeds. They are sooo cute! They are tiny and quick so I am very very proud of these two pictures.

Here is a video I took of a Shama Thrush singing away! One of the most beautiful bird songs ever!

This is a different one I was able to get a picture of:

These water lilies were HUGE and so beautiful!

Another Anole hangin out:

Check out the lovely blue color around his eye:

Another plant fitting of a Dr Seuss story:

These are 'Alae 'ula . Hawaiian Moorhen. They are endemic to Hawaii and extremely endangered. It was really exciting to see them in such large quantities here:

We got eaten alive by mosquitoes, but had an amazing time! This is definitely a spot we will be taking any of our friends and family who come out to visit!