Clouds and mist roll in over valleys thick and course with vegetation — creeping in to corners, clinging to the shadows. A blazing orange sun glints and dips on the horizon, and a pathway of stillness paints the sea to the sky. The landscape sighs like an old man; heavy, weary, but with an air full of wisdom.

Why Big Island is the best-kept secret

Not to be confused with its smaller, touristic counterpart O'ahu — Hawai'i Island (or by the better known 'Big Island'), measures up to its name in a plethora of ways.

Both the largest and the youngest of the Hawai'ian islands, Big Island boasts 8 out of 13 of the world's climate zones, and 90% of its native flora and fauna is endemic. 4 different colours of sand blanket pristine beaches at the coasts.

Deserts, rainforests, and coral reefs are a just handful of the organic attractions and natural features. Not to mention the awe-inspiring, natural phenomenon at its core and centre...

The island that oozes sheer power, strength, and molten lava

Big Island is composed of five volcanoes and numerous world-breaking records: the most voluminous volcano, the tallest sea volcano, the world's most active volcano, AND boasting an ever-changing landscape as the island's acreage continues to grow with every volcanic output.

Hualālai, towards the west coast of the island, is active but not erupting. Kohala, an ancient, smaller volcano and on the north end of the island, last erupted 120,000 years ago and is extinct.

Towering above the land and often snow-capped or cloud-covered, dormant Mauna Kea looms: the 13,796ft peak beckons after a high-altitude 4x4 journey and offers various dark-sky viewing stations, 13 space-viewing telescopes, the world's largest areological observatory, and of course 360 degree sprawling views of the island and archipelago surroundings—including glimpses of Maui, Lana'i, Moloka'i, even O'ahu on clear days. By contrast, the dark skies at night smother with the depths of a warm embrace, glistening and brimming with untold wonder in the midst of nowhere.

The remaining Kīlauea and Mauna Loa are two of the most highly active volcanoes on Earth.

Kīlauea, meaning 'spewing' or 'much spreading' in Hawai'ian, is the main attraction of the Volcanoes National Park (U.S.A. National Park Service) and has been erupting periodically for the past 500 years and currently in active 'lava fountaining' episodes since December 23, 2024. Defined by timeframe, fountain episodes generally last for less than 12 hours and can be separated by pauses that last from days to a few weeks.

The largest active volcano on the planet, Mauna Loa means 'long mountain' in Hawai'ian and is signified by its solid broad, rounded slopes. The volcano makes up nearly a staggering 50% of Big Island and stands 13,681 feet (4,170 m) above sea level.

While possible to drive to the summit for high-elevation views, scenery, and lava observation, it is advised to proceed with caution and only with a 4x4 vehicle — the terrain can be dangerous, narrow, and winding.

But the ancient reminders of danger, and the threats of unforgiving activity loom like a long shadow in the setting sun, and an eternal whisper in the wind.

Dried destruction left behind

A cycle of death and rebirth, centuries of an entanglement between Mother Nature and civilization — mighty layers of solid rock sit like an ancient second skin, cracking and desiccated, unleashed and unfurled to remain silently embedded in time.

Motionless swathes of volcanic lava, monotonous and permanent in their vast monstrosities, cover Big Island's floor in intricate, menacing pathways. Masses of molten sediment tell the tales of different decades and once seeped, stretched, and flowed over miles of land on its gravitational route to the sea.

What was once intrusive and raging, dissipating nature and consuming lives, the dried remnants of disaster now silently bookends beaches, roads, and towns that live amicably around the past.

Spared from an all-consuming barrenness, flourishing ecosystems with tropical plants and luscious trees still thrive inbetween the charred, black lava fields.

Hawai'ian birds are either exquisite, or extinct

Winding pathways and forest hikes invite a gentle journey to the past, where exotic plants and birds, never before seen by civilisation, lived and grew in their thousands. Before the arrival of humans, 142 distinct bird species were found on the islands and nowhere else on the planet.

Jarringly, 97% of those birds are now extinct, with a remaining 33 out of 47 species — roughly 70% — classed as endangered and facing future extinction. Urban development and widespread habitat destruction, human intervention with imports of non-native predators (rats, snakes, mongoose), and various other factors such as damaging diseases have threatened their struggled survival in the wild.

Of the remaining species, many are viewed nowhere else on Earth.

Today, from red-footed seabirds to short-eared owls, from songbirds to native geese, and through to spectacular varieties of treecreepers, the leftover diversity is still truly astonishing.

Walking under canopies of trees, it's impossible to not be moved. Overlapping, magical songs with high notes and vibrational melodies echo between chattering forest birds — rich with colours of highlighter yellows, honey-oranges, stark blues, and sunset reds.

One of the most special features from the native birds, the endangered I'iwi in particular, are the uniquely curved beaks of honeycreepers — a beautiful result of co-evolution with native plants that require a delicate, half-moon shape to best enter the funnel-shaped flowers for nectar.

See above: Native Hawai'ian honeycreeper bird, the I'iwi (pronounced 'ee-wee')

The plants and trees are some of nature's finest wonders, working in harmony and striking, rare.

Trees are windows to the past

One of the most recognisable and spectacular trees is the majestic Banyan Tree, with giant, thick trunks and vast, hanging canopies.

Often accompanied by screeching flocks of birds around sunrise and sunsets, the Banyans intricate root systems and branches hang like ropes and trail outwards in extravagant, ancient beauty — often a landmark sight on coastal edges of the horizon or central in the depths of forests.

Some Banyan trees over the Hawai'ian Islands are over 150 years old (Laihana, Maui housing one of the oldest), with others in the world living 450-500 years. A particularly spectacular drive can be found at the aptly named Banyan Drive in Hilo, the capital city of Big Island.

Another eye-catcher is the beautifully bright, multi-coloured Eucalyptus Deglupta, better-known as the 'Rainbow Eucalyptus' tree. The trunk's striking pallet of colours are a natural phenomenon, whereby the combination of air and sunlight react with the bark to create long 'strips' that can turn from green into shades of red, orange, purple, blue, and pink — seemingly appearing painted by the brush of a talented, abstract artist.

Incredibly, because Rainbow Eucalyptus shed intermittently, its colours are in a constant state of change — it therefore marks each tree as individual, never repeating the same pattern. Able to grow up to a whopping 250ft in height, it was originally imported in the 1800s for lumber.

Particularly enchanting on Big Island due to their logic-defying growth, ‘ōhi‘as are small, native trees that are often found growing bravely through thick and hardened, charred lava. Thought to be sacred to Pele (goddess of fire) and with vermillion red, pom-pom-like blossoms, these hardy trees live in some of the driest areas and sometimes as shrubs in bogs; found at sea level, or as high as 10,000 feet.

Amazingly, the slopes of Mauna Loa have ‘ōhi‘as that could have even been mature when Captain Cook was walking around many hundreds of years ago.

Lastly, there's nothing like the wonder of the giant, enchanting Mango trees that creak and moan in the winds of winter and drop bountiful fruits in the summer. Some of the oldest Mango trees are 150 years old on the islands, and can emit a woody, rich, and sweet aroma — not to mention the sun-ripened fruit which the ground animals (particularly wild boar) enjoy and the forest floors recycle.

Hawai'i leaves a lasting impression and a lifetime of awe

Impressive is just one word of many for this astonishing tapestry of ecosystems and wonder, all in one 4,038m² place.

The enticing elements of Hawai'i don't conclude with the wildlife, flora and fauna. Many people come to the islands for their potent sense of paradise; the warmth of the climate, the powdered beaches of dreams, the sublime, sprawling horizons on the sea.

The glamorous beach vacation and palm-lined scenery still wait at the edges of exploration, awaiting tourists to step in.

Whatever the agenda, travelling to any one of the Hawai'ian Islands means returning to the real world with an incandescent, irrevocable appreciation — a burning awe and a softness for the land there is a certainty.