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Natural History

The Hana Belt Road

The drive to Hana is the most celebrated scenic drive in all the islands. The road itself is cut into cliffs hung with pandanus, giant ferns, ginger and bamboo. All the guidebooks will tell you that on this road you will drive past magnificent waterfalls, panoramic ocean views, idyllic country villages, and a gorgeous rain forest. And every one says the road itself is the adventure, and not the town of Hana. All of that is still mostly true.
However, few of the guidebooks tell you that the road itself is a modern marvel. The road was designed by the Maui County Engineer's office in the 1920's. In many places it followed an already existing road built in the previous century by Maui chief Pi'ilani. That road could accommodate foot traffic and horses, but it was impossible for the new-fangled automobile.

The Belt Road was cut out of the cliff face mostly by hand with picks. In some places engineers blasted out ledges from the steep hillsides for the stonemasons to stand on while constructing the wing walls for the Holua Stream Bridge, one of two stone bridges, and for the 57 stone culverts with spans of less than ten feet.

In June, 1925, Governor Wallace Farrington and the County Board of Supervisors Chairman Samuel Kalama led a grand procession of cars on the official opening of the "Maui Belt Road" from Kailua to Keanae. By December, 1926, the same VIPs were able to drive all the way to Hana. The completion of the monumental task of constructing this unpaved road, which came to be known as the "Hana Highway" deserved a Hana-style dedication - a luau lasting for more than two days.

A Maui News editorial of the time pointed out that the new road meant that "no longer will it be necessary to wait upon a steamer schedule or to traverse the ditch trail on horseback or mule back. The journey will be made by automobile and the route will be traversed in a few hours...."
What was completed in 1926 remains remarkably intact. The stonework, grading and alignment of the road have not been significantly altered since they were built. (In many places the road narrows and widens from 16 to 24 feet with almost no shoulders.)

The road maintains the reputation for being a "bad" road. T-shirts, copyrighted and sold by Hasegawa's famous store in Hana proclaim, "I Survived the Road to Hana."

That reputation is not so true any more, although folks who are in a hurry are likely to have more harrowing experiences than those who take their time. The road certainly can be an endurance test for the intrepid souls who insist on doing the whole trip into Hana and back out again in one day.
The road is still very narrow in some places and there are plenty of hairpin turns. Thanks to several repaving projects in the decades since the road was first opened, these days the road is mostly well-banked and has clearly marked bridges. Several State parks and stop-off points provide places for drivers and their passengers to stretch and to walk around before continuing onward.

In years past, when Maui was a smaller, slower place and mudslides often made the road impassable, drivers were known to swap their cars with those on the opposite side and carry on to where they were going.

There are still unexpected hazards for unwary visitors and other newcomers to the island. These include cloudbursts that make the road surface slick and heavy falls of fruit from roadside mango trees that can make the road slippery.

Some folks in the far-flung communities along the road maintain their families by driving daily down the Hana Highway to jobs as far away as Kaanapali, the point farthest west on Maui. While this earns them the dubious distinction of being the longest-haul commuters on the island, it can also make them impatient about getting home. Local drivers who tailgate the rear bumper of slower-moving cars in front of them are likely to make newcomers nervous, as do the sudden appearances of very large delivery and construction trucks coming towards you around some turn. Road maintenance crew working on some section of the road just around a blind curve is another likely slowdown.

The rule of thumb on the road for a driver meeting an oncoming vehicle is to edge yours as far to the right as you can and still keep moving, hoping the other driver does the same and that the road will let you pass each other. When someone seems to be in a hurry and is on your tail, the other rule is to find some bit of road shoulder where you can stop to let the other guy get past you safely. (Anyone with tendencies towards road rage is advised to take the plane flight into Hana.)

Hana town is 57 miles from Wailuku (and 74 miles from Lahaina). Along one stretch of about 30 miles, (or, as the guide books say,) after Route 36 (at mile marker 22) turns into Route 36 (mile marker 0), the narrow two-lane Hana Highway makes 617 curves and crosses 56 one-lane bridges.

Once a year, scores of runners head out from Paia town towards Hana for the Hana Relays, a 55-mile foot race with teams of runners changing off during the run. The runners begin near the Kahului airport and stop at Hana Harbor.
 

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Arts & Culture

Bird Of Paradise
(Strelitzia reginae)

The familiar bird of paradise is a densely clumping ornamental shrub that grows to be a little higher than a man's shoulders. It is a member of the banana or musa family of plants in Hawaii, it is grown either as specimen plants or as massed plantings in sunnier gardens. The plants form a fanlike arrangement of small, stiff banana-like leaves that are 4 to 5 feet in length and blue-green in color.

A number of commercial growers raise the plants for the florist trade. The cut flowers can last up to two weeks. (If they are left on the plant, they may last even longer.) For a fuller look to the bouquets, the extra flowers in the "boat" can be coaxed gently to spread apart more widely.

Among the leaves, for most of the year, arise sturdy stems bearing clusters of flowers. Several orange and blue flowers are nestled in gray-green and red, horizontal, stiff, boat-shaped bracts that look like bird beaks. Three sepals are not joined and are yellow or white, long, narrow and pointed. Three petals, consisting of one small petal and two long ones, join in the shape of an arrowhead or tongue which partly encloses a three-branched style and five stamens. Individual new flowers appear as preceding ones age and wither.

A number of commercial growers raise the plants for the florist trade. The cut flowers can last up to two weeks. If they are left on the plant, they may last even longer.

A native to the Cape of Good Hope region of South Africa, where it grows wild along river banks, the plant is "ornithophilous". This means the plants require nectar-eating birds to pollinate its blossoms. The pollen is hidden far inside the flowers and the male part of the flower is tightly encased by the sheath. The birds carry the pollen from one flower's (male) anthers to another flower's receptive (female) stigma in order to pollinate the blooms.
The plant is also called a crane's bill or crane flower. All three common names suggest the beaklike flower bracts and the flowers' resemblance to birds in flight. The distinctive flowers are often used as part of designs for paintings, stained glass, fabrics, clothing and quilts.

The scientific name "strelitzia" pays tribute to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the German-born consort of George III of England. "Reginae," meaning, "of the queen," alludes both the Queen Charlotte and to the regal-looking plant

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Braddah-Nics Lexicon

STANDARD: It really doesn't matter to me whether you go or stay.
BRADDAH-NICS: Go, stay go, no mattah me!

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD: He's being very argumentative.
BRADDAH-NICS: He stay make big beef.

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD: Sometimes it's just not possible.
BRADDAH-NICS: No matter how much you like, sometimes no can.
 
 

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Local Grinds

Lemon Chicken

Ingredients:

Procedure:

In large bowl, combine chicken with sherry, soy sauce and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt; let stand for 15 minutes. In small bowl, beat eggs then beat in a 1/4 cup cornstarch and baking powder until batter is smooth. In wok or large skillet, heat 2 cups oil to 350 degrees. Coat chicken with batter, fry until browned. Cut into 1 1/2 x 1 inch pieces. Combine sugar, one tablespoon cornstarch, broth, lemon juice and remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Cut lemon into thin slices. In wok or skillet, heat two tablespoons oil; add lemon slices and stir fry for 30 seconds. Slowly stir in cornstarch mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce is clear. Pour over chicken.
Makes six servings.

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Spotlight On…

Waikamoi Preserve

Amongst the windward slopes of Mt. Haleakala, 100,000 plus acres of lush greenery flourishes relatively untouched by the hands of man.
Encompassing 5,230 acres in the heart of this vast Hawaiian rainforest, the Waikamoi Preserve represents a haven for rare and endangered native flora and fauna, and a source for the majority of East Maui's water supply. Within the Preserve alone there are 272 native plant species, many endangered and endemic to East Maui, treasured native Koa and Ohi's trees, countless native insects, and 13 native species of birds; 7 of which endangered. Of special note is the Po‘ouli - an extremely rare winged inhabitant of which only 3 specimens are known to live in the wild.

Since 1888, the Waikamoi Preserve and it's surroundings have been privately held by the Haleakala Ranch Company. However, in 1983 the Nature Conservancy of Maui was granted management rights to the land that has now become a priceless piece of Maui real estate: the Waikamoi Preserve.

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