On Kauai, the oldest of the Hawaiian islands, travelers will find a lush green environment of canyons and trees and waterfalls, as well as the Kokoe’e Natural History Museum . Regardless of the weather, the museum is open every day, including holidays, from ten a.m. to four p.m. in order to greet the park’s visitors. While admission is free, there is a suggested donation of a dollar per person, because the museum doesn’t receive any state funding for its operations.

While the real exhibits in this museum lie outside, there’s still a great deal to see inside the museum. One such exhibit consists of two three-paneled wooden screens, which was created for the opening of the Kokoe’e Museum years ago in 1953. Pages from an 1885 book titled “Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands” has been remounted onto the screens. The book was written by a Mrs. Francis Sinclair who included 44 color plates of her own original watercolors; while no book would be sacrificed in this way today, these 57 year old panels are a unique way to exhibit the early studies of Hawaiian plants.

Another exhibit to be found in the museum is “A Treasury of Trees, Resources of a Traditional Lifestyle”; in this case, the exhibit concerns forest trees and the traditional uses to which they are put. Guests will be able to touch the bark of standing trees and hold blocks of different woods in order to truly appreciate the differences.

There’s a section, too, about the game animals which were not native to Kauai, but introduced here. These animals include a wild boar to a stag, goats, some game birds, and even trout. Also, in an old Victorian cupboard, visitors will discover a selection of land and sea shells from Ni’ihau and Kaua’i. There’s s display, too, of the shell of a large sea turtle and a large whale vertebrae.

No matter whether guests stay in the best hotels Kauai offers in Lihu’e, Poipu, or the North Shore, travel time to the park is usually under two hours, as long as there’s not too much traffic. At the museum, visitors may learn about the history of their environment, then walk out into it, taking a look at the spectacular waterfalls in Kalalau Valley and stopping for lunch at the Puukapele Picnic Area.

Kokoe’e Natural History Museum in Kauai is a post from: Philippine Butterfly

No related posts.