KAUAI INVITES YOU TO slow down
Regenerative tourism is the way on North Shore
IF YOU GO
Limahuli Garden and Preserve: Open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (gates close at 2:15p.m.) Tuesday-Saturday at 5-8291 Kuhio Highway in Hanalei, Kauai, for selfguided tours ($30, free for children 12 and under, reservations highly recommended) and guided tours ($60, reservations required) at 9a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There's a $5 discount available if you arrive via North Shore Shuttle. Reservations for July open the last week of June at https://ntbg.org/gardens/limahuli/. Common Ground: This Kauai farm offers a Regenerative Farm and Food Experience ($65, free for kids 5 and younger), which includes a walking tour, tropical fruit tasting and light family-style meal made solely with island-grown ingredients, from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays. Make reservations at least 48hours ahead. 4900 Kuawa Road, Kilauea; https://commongroundkauai.com
Princeville Ranch: This horse ranch offers horseback riding lessons for $150per person or $200for two people at 5-3900 Kuhio Highway in Princeville, https:// princevilleranch.com/.
I don't want to be an invasive species. The thought kept running through my mind as I made my way up old stone steps into the lushness of Kauai's Limahuli Garden and Preserve. Never have I experienced so many shades and forms of the color green, in one place. This 1,000-acre valley teems with flora and fauna that include plants and birds on the verge of extinction — extinction largely caused by non-native species pushing aside what belonged here first.
It felt appropriate that my first day on Kauai, the “Garden Isle” of the Hawaiian archipelago, should be spent at Limahuli learning about ahupua'a, an indigenous resource management system used by native Hawaiians for hundreds of years. This was going to be a different kind of vacation.
I've visited Oahu many times over the years and love it, but that island experience has been molded around the tourism industry