Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
land or people. Hawaiian chiefs had the pit dug to measure the amount of sandalwood ne-
cessary to fill the hold of a ship, and they traded the aromatic wood to Yankee captains
for baubles, whiskey, guns, and tools. The traders carried the wood to China, where they
made huge profits. The trading was so lucrative that the men of entire villages were forced
into the hills to collect it, even to the point that the taro fields were neglected and fam-
ine gnawed at the door. It only took a few years to denude the mountains of their copious
stands of sandalwood, which is even more incredible when you consider that all of the
work was done by hand.
One mile after the Sandalwood Pit you'll reach the
Waikolu Overlook,
a precipitous,
3,700-foot drop-off where jagged cliff faces give way to the distant sea. In the days fol-
lowing a heavy rain the walls of the valley can explode with dozens of waterfalls, although
you don't want to come up here during a heavy rain, since the valley will be socked in with
clouds and you'll probably get stuck in the mud.
For most visitors, Waikolu Overlook is going to be as far as their vehicle will take them.
To go farther is to head into the
Kamakou Preserve,
an incomparably lush jungle of ferns
and native plants where 98 percent of the species are thought to be indigenous to the is-
