Hilo

Hilo

With an average rainfall of 129+ inches of rain per year, Hilo is probably the wettest city in the country by- passing Seattle by a long shot. Although the big resorts seem to be along the dry west coast, we found we really liked the wetter tropical side where Hilo is located.

Even though we’d been in and out and through Hilo just about everyday that we’d been on the Big Island, we thought it might be time to slow down and actually explore the town. On our way into Hilo we “detoured’ to try to see the lava flows from the other side but the road was closed . Not to be deterred we took another side trip and ended up on a narrow winding road that wound through a lush rainforest. The trees and vines were so abundant that they grew a canopy over the road. We saw a sign that said Natural Hot Tub but even though we followed the road all the way to the end, we never found the Natural Hot tub. We did however drive through Lava Tree National Park. Finally we found our way back to a main road and Hilo.

Our first stop in Hilo was Nani Mau Gardens where we wandered through 20 acres of tropical flowers and trees, pools and waterfalls and separate gardens dedicated to orchids and other Hawaiian plants. We chose to walk but a tram was available to take visitors around the grounds. Nani Mau also featured a Polynesian Buffet so we had our lunch there too.

From Nani Mau we headed to the Pana Ewa Rainforest Zoo. I think we would be safe to call this a small zoo as it houses about 75 animals on 12 acres. What makes this zoo unique is that it is the only rainforest zoo in the United States. Many of the animals housed here are endangered like the white Bengal Tiger. This is also where we finally saw a Nene! The zoo runs on donations. There is no entrance fee! It may be small but it was one of the prettiest zoos I’ve been in. The tropical landscaping was a big part of the zoo’s atmosphere and it was obvious that they took great care of the plants as well as the animals.

Our last stop was the Pacific Tsunami Museum. This was far more interesting than I expected. Hilo was devastated by a Tsunami in 1960 and the guide that showed us around the museum was actually a survivor of that Tsunami. She pointed out to us the changes that have been made to Hilo’s waterfront to prevent that kind of devastation from ever happening again.

The museum closed at 4pm so at that point we headed to Ken’s House of Pancakes for dinner before restocking supplies for the condo at Walmart and heading back to the resort.

There is still so much to see that we just don't have time for. We missed visiting the Rainbow Falls and Boiling Pots because we detoured the opposite way but we didn't fee deprived. It gives us another thing to add  to our To-Do list on a return visit. Another stop we didn't have time for was Akatsuka Orchid Gardens. The list just keeps growing!