"Is that the volcano erupting lava?"
It was 2007, I was driving a friend back to Kahului Airport at 5 a.m. He had never been to Maui before, and all that week he had been in awe of everything he saw during the daylight hours. This time, his eyes landed on something he couldn't quite identify in the dark of the early morning.
Back in those days, the sugar cane industry was still in full swing. Part of their cane harvesting process involved setting the entire field ablaze to burn off the majority of the plant material, leaving just the sugary stalks to be harvested by a giant industrial picker machine later that day. We were coming down Main Street in Wailuku and had a clear view out to the north shore. We could see the sugar cane field on fire just mauka (inland) of Spreckelsville, but my friend Luke couldn't understand what he was looking at.
He had never seen a huge controlled burn like this and tensed up as he asked, "Is that what I think it is?"
"What do you think it is?" I asked, my standard answer to this question.
"Is that the volcano erupting lava?"
I held back my laughter as I told him no and brought him up to speed about the sugar cane burn. Then I told him about the final lava flows on Maui at Ahihi Kinau and the first time I ever saw them.
Ahihi Kinau is a Natural Area Reserve System (NARS) site. NARS is a statewide system set up to preserve in perpetuity specific land and water areas in some of the most unique natural environments in Hawaii. Within these areas, one can find rare endemic plants and animals, many of which are on the edge of extinction. Ahihi Kinau's geography is characterized mostly by its acres and acres of lava rock. It comes in sheets, mounds, and spires of centuries-old lava flows. Not only was Ahihi Kinau the site of the last lava flows on the island of Maui, but it was also Maui's very first Natural Area Reserve System site (designated in 1973). In addition to the miles of lava rock and the sparse woodlands on them, one of the other dominant natural characteristics of the site is its anchialine pools—unique little ecosystems with varying pH values, teeming with some of the rarest plant, animal, and microscopic life on the planet.
When I was fresh out of high school, I got a job in the AmeriCorps doing environmental work on Maui, Molokai, and Kahoolawe. The majority of it was eradicating invasive and non-native plants from the islands, but every once in a while, it was a magical spectacle of biodiversity. I would go on expeditions all over Maui Nui with the technicians and biologists at the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), as well as living four days a week with the Kaho`olawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC) on the island of Kaho`olawe to propagate native Hawaiian flora.
One day, I was assisting a Department of Wildlife technician I had befriended named Chris as he looked for native Hawaiian birds in the mysterious and beautiful scapes of Ahihi Kinau. It is a restricted area, so even though I had explored La Perouse Bay to the south and Makena to the north, I had always just driven through Ahihi Kinau and only wondered about what there was to see just past the treeline. Chris guided me to the anchialine pools, stopping every few minutes to look for native birds through his binoculars. He explained to me that the word anchialine comes from the Greek ankhialos, meaning "near the sea." These pools formed in the holes and crevasses in the eroded lava rock sheets a few meters from the ocean cliffs. Depending on the mineral composition of the rocks and the presence of fresh, salt, or brackish water, some of the pools would have a green or red color to them. There were birds, insects, and fish that I was familiar with, and even some that I had never seen, inhabiting these little environments. Some pools were so acidic that they couldn't be touched by humans, but birds stood and fished in them. Just a few paces away, the tide broke against the cliff below us. I walked to look over the edge at the ocean slapping in rhythm against a small cliff. I turned around to look up at the face of Haleakala. Now with a clear view, past the few trees still in the small clearing, I could see the path that those final lava flows took from these great cinder cones 500 and 600 years ago. The lava had inched down to the ocean near where I stood, setting the scene for these otherworldly natural marvels that were unlike anything I had seen before or since.
As we continued our journey to the airport, my friend couldn't stop asking questions about the fascinating mix of ancient lava flows and geographic alchemy in those unique microcosms. It was a reminder of how Maui is a living landscape, woven together with the threads of its natural history.
Watching the sunrise as we drove, I felt a deep connection to the island—a place where nature's raw power and beauty are always present. I realized that moments like these, sharing the wonders of Maui with friends, made me appreciate my home even more.
Dropping my friend off at the airport, he turned to me and said, "Thank you for showing me the real Maui. I'd like to come back to Maui. Maybe I can get a job with DLNR like you so I can see those anchialine pools."
Smiling, I knew that while he came as a malihini (visitor), he was leaving with a deeper understanding and respect for the island's unique beauty. As I drove back home to Wailuku, the morning light revealing the picturesque landscape, I felt grateful to call Maui my home, where every day offers a new discovery and every story adds to the island’s rich tapestry.
Click Here to learn more about the delicate ecosystem of Ahihi Kinau.
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