Hawaii Lyon Arboretum 🌳🪵🍃 Forest Maze Explorer

📍Lyon Arboretum, Hawaii Botanical Garden 🔗: Search “The Story of Hawaii’s Rain Forest Tour” on Airbnb 💵: $89🔪 per person 📍What does “Aloha” mean in Hawaii? 📍It’s both a greeting and farewell, as well as “We share the breath.” 📍Our guide for the four-hour hike was a 67-year-old grandfather named Scott. He explained that in Hawaiian language, “Alo” means “face to face,” and “ha” (ha) represents breath. So Aloha signifies sharing this moment’s vitality and breath. 📍Before coming to Hawaii, I, along with Xiao Zhang, signed up for Scott’s tour with the intention of not just sightseeing. We even changed our flight for this. But I can confidently say, this was the most satisfying itinerary of our trip!!! Lyon Arboretum is super spacious, located right next to Manoa Fall, and personally, I find it more worth seeing than Ho’omaluhia. 📍At first, it’s like the botanical garden you’d expect, but as you venture deeper, you’ll find the wild forest we saw later. The forest is quite untamed; you could really get lost without a guide. We walked and stopped along the way, with Scott occasionally picking up fruits from the ground or pointing to a tree to start explaining. Scott’s personal charisma is off the charts! You can feel his passion for plants and a wide range of knowledge 🫶. 📍Our group had six people, and luckily, it didn’t rain that day! Typically, you’d encounter rain when you enter the forest, which can make the trail muddy and slippery, increasing the difficulty of the hike 🌨️. But because it didn’t rain, Scott took us to even more places. Along the way, Scott would check on our physical condition and ask if we were willing to see more. Little tips: Scott will help everyone take photos during the hike or of plants and will later send them to you for free. If you’re worried about your camera getting wet, there’s no need to bring it! Scott’s got a waterproof 😊. He provided microspikes to put over our shoes, as well as hiking poles and insect repellent spray. You can bring a small snack and water in your own bag. If you want to book this tour, look ahead of time because it only runs every few days. It’s advisable not to schedule anything too tight in the afternoon as the return time is uncertain. Wishing everyone a great time! #GettingCloseToNature #Outdoors #HawaiiBotanicalGarden #Hiking #Forest #Oahu