Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach
Punaluʻu’s dark sand comes from basalt fragmented and sorted by waves along the Kāʻu coast.
Hawaii, United States: places and wildlife — page 2
Browse the published Explore collection for Hawaii, United States. Open a discovery for its field guide, practical details, and background.
Papakōlea Green Sand Beach
Papakōlea occupies part of Puʻu Mahana, where erosion concentrates green olivine crystals from a volcanic cone into a small, striking beach.
Molokini Crater
Molokini is the emergent rim of a volcanic crater and a protected marine-life conservation district offshore from Maui.
Wailua Falls
Wailua Falls drops over a broad basalt ledge just north of Līhuʻe, often separating into two main streams before filling a deep pool.
Kīlauea Iki Trail
The Kīlauea Iki loop moves from wet ʻōhiʻa forest down the crater wall and across a hardened lava lake still venting heat in places.
Keoneheʻeheʻe (Sliding Sands) Trail
Keoneheʻeheʻe drops from near 10,000 feet into a basin of cinder cones, lava, desert color, and rare alpine life.
Pīpīwai Trail
The Pīpīwai Trail follows ʻOheʻo Gulch upland through mixed forest, bridges, bamboo, and waterfall viewpoints in Haleakalā’s Kīpahulu District.
Kalalau Trail
The Kalalau Trail traces eleven demanding miles of the Nā Pali Coast from Kēʻē to Kalalau, with the first section reaching Hanakāpīʻai.
Awaʻawapuhi Trail
Awaʻawapuhi begins in cool upland forest and drops steadily to a narrow ridge viewpoint over Awaʻawapuhi and Nualolo valleys.
Makapuʻu Point Lighthouse Trail
The Makapuʻu trail rises along Oʻahu’s dry southeast coast to overlooks above a red-roofed 1909 lighthouse.
Waiheʻe Ridge Trail
Waiheʻe Ridge climbs from a gated agricultural road onto a narrow green spine overlooking Waiheʻe Valley and the north Maui coast.
Foster Botanical Garden
Foster began in the nineteenth century and now holds palms, orchids, cycads, exceptional trees, and threatened tropical plants within a compact urban garden.
Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden
Hoʻomaluhia spreads geographically organized tropical collections across 400 acres below the sharply folded Koʻolau range.
Lyon Arboretum
Lyon Arboretum occupies nearly 200 wet acres at the back of Mānoa Valley, with palms, gingers, native Hawaiian plants, ethnobotanical collections, and research facilities.
Limahuli Garden and Preserve
Limahuli occupies a steep North Shore valley where a garden trail interprets Hawaiian plants and land management within a much larger ecological preserve.
Hawaiʻi Tropical Bioreserve & Garden
The garden holds palms, heliconias, orchids, aroids, bromeliads, and towering trees along a paved route through a naturally wet coastal valley.
Honolulu Zoo
Honolulu Zoo occupies 42 acres between Waikīkī and Lēʻahi, with animals from tropical regions, children’s areas, and shaded botanical plantings.
Waikīkī Aquarium
Founded in 1904 beside a living reef, Waikīkī Aquarium focuses on tropical Pacific fishes, corals, giant clams, jellies, monk seals, and Hawaiian marine research.
Maui Ocean Center
Maui Ocean Center presents marine species found in Hawaiian waters, including reef fish, sharks, rays, corals, sea turtles, and deep-water interpretation.
Panaʻewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens
Panaʻewa presents mammals, birds, reptiles, and extensive plantings on a manageable loop south of Hilo.