Stop and Hear the Trees
Originally featured in Neighbors of West Maui
The Kona sun was transforming from pleasant to intense, so I grabbed another cup of ice from a volunteer and dumped it on my head before replacing my hat, hoping a few ice cubes would stay in place as I ran the remaining 4 miles of the Lavaman Triathlon on the Big Island.
“Mahalo!” I called to the volunteer who was dispensing ice, as I had to the volunteer before her, and the one before him.
“You have good energy!” said a fellow runner, who was keeping in step with me now. We ran together for a few miles, cheering for other athletes and laughing about running through the resort, past the tourists with their mai tais in hand at 9am. It was 2012, and technically, I was still a tourist myself. But my new running buddy never treated me like one. Kawika Singson has made me feel at home in Hawaii since before I ever called the Big Island home!
And now he shares his island home and all the adventures it offers with viewers statewide every Sunday, as we tune in for a new episode of “Everything Hawaii.” Fans worldwide can view episodes online, and learn the art of living Aloha, no matter where they reside!
I credit the star of “Everything Hawaii” for teaching me how to say “The Queen Kaahumanu Highway” instead of “The Queen K” out of respect for the woman who abolished the kapu system forbidding men and women to eat together, pioneering womens rights in ancient Hawaii.
In an episode that included footage of lava oozing beneath cracks in the rocks Kawika was hiking across, I was reminded that this volcanic eruption that got so much global attention for the lava trail of destruction (and vog) it left in its wake was also a creative force, birthing new land and expanding the island of Hawaii.
With his drone Kawika has captured mesmerizing aerial views of humpback whales dancing over salty waves, and even a rare sighting of Hawaii’s pygmy killer whales, which are the only-known population of killer whales that don’t travel out to the open waters of the Pacific, but remain isolated in one location instead.
A well-seasoned adventurer and Hawaiian, Kawika teaches us to stop and hear the trees in an episode set in the Kalopa Forest. The source of the tree songs? Friction from tree bark as branches overlap and rub together far above his head while he talks through a forest that is the stuff Menehune legends are made of!
Kawika inspires his “Everything Hawaii” viewers to find the adventures waiting in whatever corner of Hawaii we call home, and to be intentional about learning her history, respecting her aina and ocean, and practicing Aloha in everything we do.
