Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
MM KEAHIAKAWELO (GARDEN OF THE GODS)
Although we've successfully put a rover on Mars, Keahiakawelo is the closest most of us
will ever get to walking on the red planet. Despite being only seven miles from the pine-
lined streets of Lana'i City, the moonscape known as the Garden of the Gods may as well
be a universe away. Thousands of years of erosion have created ravines and rock spires
which are bathed in deep reds, purples, and sulfuric yellows. The best time to visit this dry,
dusty, and often windswept area is at sunset, when the rich palette of color is enhanced by
the afternoon light.
Keahiakawelo is almost completely devoid of vegetation (what little remains is eaten
by wild axis deer and mouflon sheep), but the strangest part of the panorama is the expanse
of boulders which tumble over the barren hillside. While it's anyone's guess just how ex-
actly this otherworldly scenery came to be, the ancient Hawaiians have a number of theor-
ies.
According to legend, two kahuna (priests) from Lana'i and neighboring Moloka'i were
engaged in a fierce competition as to who could keep a fire burning the longest. The win-
ner, it's believed, would see his island showered in great abundance, and Kawelo—the
kahuna from Lana'i—plucked every piece of foliage in the area for fuel to further the
fire. The name of the area—Keahiakawelo—translates as “the fire of Kawelo,” and with
Moloka'i looming large across the whitecapped Kalohi Channel it isn't hard to imagine
Kawelo's fire burning bright on the hill.
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