Your Guide
Kawika Kahanamoku
Meet your guide
Kawika Kahanamoku
Kohala cultural practitioner. His family has conducted ceremonies at Pu'ukoholā Heiau since 1791. Not a docent — a practitioner.
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Kawika Kahanamoku
Cultural practitioner and historian from Kohala. Descends from the district's chief lineage. Has spent 25 years documenting and restoring Kohala's sacred sites with the State Historic Preservation Division. Conducts protocols at Pu'ukoholā Heiau for the annual ceremony that's been observed continuously since the temple was built in 1791.

The north Kohala coast is where old Hawaii is most present. Pu'ukoholā Heiau — the last great temple constructed in pre-contact Hawaii — was built by Kamehameha I in 1791 as a war temple to fulfill a prophecy and unify the islands. Kawika's family has participated in the annual ceremony at this heiau continuously since its construction. When he walks you through it, he's not a docent reading a plaque — he's a practitioner explaining a living tradition. Then the King's Trail: a path of smooth lava stones that connected the Kohala coast villages, still walkable, passing Lapakahi — a 600-year-old fishing village preserved exactly as it was abandoned in the early 20th century. The day ends at Pololu Valley's black sand beach as the cliffs turn purple.

What Your Day Looks Like

A sample itinerary

Morning (8am)
Meet Kawika at Pu'ukoholā Heiau. He conducts a brief protocol before entering — asking permission of the ancestors who are present. The heiau itself: 224 feet by 100 feet, constructed in one year by Kamehameha's warriors carrying stones from Pololu Valley, 14 miles away. Kawika explains the political strategy behind its construction and the ceremony that consecrated it. He also explains the heiau currently submerged offshore — only visible at extremely low tide.
Mid-morning (10am–12pm)
Drive north on the Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway to the King's Trail — the alaloa, the royal path that once connected every village on the Kohala coast. Walking this path is walking where Hawaiian royalty walked. Kawika identifies the ahupua'a boundaries, the fishing village sites, the points where the trail diverges for seasonal camps.
Midday to afternoon (12–3pm)
Lapakahi State Historical Park: a 600-year-old fishing village preserved in place — stone foundations, canoe halaus, saltmaking platforms, game stones. Kawika explains what life in a Hawaiian fishing village actually was: the resource management systems, the social structure, the skill sets required. Lunch at the park picnic area. Then Pololu Valley black sand beach at the north end of the coast — the cliffs go purple as the light moves west.
What's Included

Everything is handled

✓ Private guided tour with cultural practitioner
✓ Pu'ukoholā Heiau extended access (beyond standard visitor area)
✓ King's Trail guided walk
✓ Lapakahi guided interpretation
✓ Packed lunch (local foods from Hawi town)
✓ Transportation throughout the Kohala coast
Best For
◆ Hawaiian history and cultural enthusiasts
◆ Photographers seeking north coast landscape and light
◆ Anyone who wants to understand the foundations of Hawaiian civilization
◆ Travelers who want a meaningful day, not a sightseeing checklist