Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge

Hakalau forest NWR is one of the few places on island of Hawaii to see trees and birds you will never see anywhere. The trees and birds clearly show how flora and fauna evolve when left undisturbed. You need a guide to get inside, Hawaii forest and trails has trips that take you here. They have very knowledgable guides who are geologists and experts. You must take camera for capturing the beauty.

You don't need a guide or any special permission to drive the 40 mile Mana Road through this gorgeous area. You just need a high clearance 4WD truck or Jeep. You can pick up the Mana Road off the Mauna kea Access Road. After following the road for 4 or 5 hours, you will exit onto the main highway in Waimea. It can get a little crowded on the weekends as this activity is popular with local families. During the week you will have it to yourself. It is a bit tricky in a couple spots, but totally doable for anyone with 4WD off roading experience.

The best place to see the rarest native forest birds on Hawai'i Island (except for the Pālila on the other side of Mauna Kea!-)

Beautiful native hawaiian forest with the best forest birding on the island. 100% worth getting a tour to visit if you are a birder - saw 2x akiapola'au, akepas at close range, and lots of alawi creepers. I went with Jack Jeffrey and it was awesome! Visiting here was one of the highlights of my Hawaii trip

A beautiful and special place. It is a highlight of our Hawaiian birding trip. Thanks to Hawaii Forest & Trail and Victor Emanuel Nature Tours for sharing this incredible place with all of us.

Shows what conservation can do in a relatively short amount of time. 35 years. Beautiful park, amazing bird songs, and sightings. Rough road to the park!! The park used to be ranch land 35 years ago.

Since access is by permit, which really means a guided tour, this is both special and expensive. It's worth it to spend a day getting introduced to native flora and fauna in a rainforest at 7200 ft above sea level. The birds are spectacular. The trees and shrubs that sustain them are beautiful and fascinating. The park evidently was a large ranch that the Nature Conservancy acquired and that is now a national park. Serious work goes on to reestablish native species and exclude others, i.e., the entire refuge is tightly fenced with hog wire to keep out the feral pigs that have done so much damage to native plants. Likewise, while hiking it's not unusual to come across mongoose traps. Between the pigs and the mongooses, many native birds and other critters have gone extinct over much of their original ranges. For further control, there's cross-fencing. Access is strictly through locked gates. Of course, anything that flies and can live there, moves freely about, and the island(s) are overwhelmed with non-native birds, particularly because of released or escaped "pet" birds. Mosquitos are also an introduction that's doing great harm, carrying diseases into local bird and mammal populations that have no resistance. When one thinks of a rainforest in the tropics, it's probably of low-land, super-saturated kinds. This one if quite open, and on a sunny introduction, looks more like some dry-land savannah than what it is, which you appreciate when a shroud of fog rolls down the much higher peak and begins a steady weeping, without or without real rain. In that respect, it's reminiscent of the coastal temperate rain forests of the Pacific Northwest, only with totally different flora and fauna.

Beautiful place to visit and learn about native plants and animals. It's a great thing that scientists are doing up there to protect our endangered species!