Explore Kualoa Ranch and the Ka'a'awa Valley of Oahu, Hawaii

Background and Directions

In 1850, Dr. Gerrit P. Judd purchased the land today known as the Kualoa Ranch and Ka'a'awa Valley from King Kamehameha III, and the property has remained in the family ever since. The owners strive to be role model stewards of the ' aina (land) by preserving and protecting it from development.

Exploration of the ranch and Ka'a'awa Valley can only be done by special permit or on one of the tours offered by Kualoa Ranch. If you prefer to snorkel, swim, paddle a Hawaiian canoe, or play volleyball on a private beach, the "Secret Island" is available to you.

Kualoa Ranch offers horseback rides, ATV rides, bus tours, and jungle exploration tours of the valley. All tours begin at the Kualoa Visitor Center.

Directions:

From Waikiki and downtown Honolulu, take the H-1 Freeway west to the Likelike (Highway 63) exit.

Take the Likelike Highway toward Kaneohe through the Wilson tunnel. Look for the Kahekili exit on the right. It curves to the left, and you will head north until you reach Kualoa Ranch (about 20 minutes). The ranch is across from Kualoa Regional Park.

Go past the park entrance around the curve of Kamehameha Highway, and look for the Kualoa Visitor Center sign on your left. Turn left into the entrance, and follow signs to the parking area.

Horseback Riding

You can explore the ranch and Ka'a'awa Valley on horseback as the ranch offers a two-hour horseback ride that takes you to the northern part of the ranch and deep into Ka'a'awa Valley. The ride takes you through forested areas, past World War II bunkers, into Ka'a'awa Valley, and gives you fantastic views of the Kualoa Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

The group typically consists of about 10 guests and two tour guides. The ride is somewhat more difficult than a standard trail ride, mostly due to several steep inclines and downgrades through rough terrain. The only problems that might arise are keeping the horses on the trail and stopping them from eating the brush and other foliage along the way.

Trailhead and Remembrances of World War II

The first part of the ride is the most challenging as you traverse along a mountainside path through numerous cattle gates. The path takes you from Kualoa into the neighboring Ka'a'awa Valley. Along the way, you pass beautiful flowering trees and plants. You'll also pass by several World War II bunkers.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the military appropriated portions of the ranch to build bunkers to protect the coast from the expected Japanese attacks which never came. Following the war, the bunkers were abandoned and they still remain intact.

Before long, you pass around the face of the Mo'o Kapu O Haloa Cliffs and the Ka'a'awa Valley unfolds before you.

Filming Location

Several trails make their way through the Ka'a'awa Valley. The two-hour horseback ride takes you deep into the valley along the 2.8-miles-long Kaaawa Valley Road, which extends almost all the way into Kaaawa Valley. The return trip takes you on a path along the valley's southeast wall.

If suddenly you feel like you've seen this area before, it's because you probably have. The Ka'a'awa Valley has been used for location filming for more than 50 major ​motion pictures and television productions. Here scenes were filmed for "50 First Dates," "Godzilla," "Mighty Joe Young," "Pearl Harbor," "Kong: Skull Island," "Tears of the Sun," and "Windtalkers."

You may recognize the tree in this photo as the place where actor Sam Neill and the two children ran from stampeding dinosaurs in Steven Spielberg's 1993 hit, "Jurassic Park." Years later "Jurassic World" had scenes filmed here.

Numerous TV productions have also been filmed here such as "Fantasy Island," "ER" and "Lost," in which survivors of a plane crash find themselves on a mysterious island with lots of secrets and constant dangers. It is in Ka'a'awa that Hurley set up his two-hole golf course and across which the survivors often hiked to inland parts of the island.

Magnificent Views of the Ka'a'awa Valley

The horseback tour continues throughout the Ka'a'awa Valley. It's unfortunate, but the two-hour ride takes place only in the late afternoon, which places the sun over the back of the valley, making views inland somewhat difficult. A morning ride into the valley would likely provide many different views.

As you reverse course and proceed back toward the ocean, the views of the valley walls are magnificent. With the sun now behind you, the details of the valley walls are vivid reminders of the volcanic nature of the Hawaiian Islands.

Reconstructed Hawaiian Village

As you near the trailhead to take you back to the Visitors Center, the trail ride passes a reconstructed Hawaiian village and taro patch built for a former Hollywood production. This is an accurate reminder that this valley was once home to many Hawaiian people.

"Ka'a'awa valley is flanked by the most formidable peaks on Oahu: Pu'u Kanehoalani on the southeast wall, Pu'u Manamana on the northwest wall, and Pu'u Ohulehule at the head of the valley. The first two are extremely narrow and all approaches require rock-climbing, death-defying feats. The third peak entered the limelight when two Danish tourists stranded themselves atop of it when too scared to attempt the descent, they elected to remain for six days." (​Backyard Oahu)

Views of Mokoli'i Island and Kaneohe Bay

As you once again ride along the trail along the ocean face of Mo'o Kapu O Haloa Cliffs, you get a beautiful view of Mokoli'i Island, also known as Chinaman's Hat. You can also see Kaneohe Bay in the distance.

The legend behind Mokoli'i is that Hi'iaka, Pele's sister, created Mokoli'i Island by sleighing a threatening no'o (dragon) and setting his gigantic flukes in the water as a landmark. She used the body of the creature to form the lowlands below the Kualoa Pali (cliffs) that provided travelers with the room for the path and current highway that runs around that edge of Oahu.

Reservations

For more information about Kualoa Ranch and the activities offered, visit its website.

It is best to make reservations for any of the activities in advance since the capacity for each activity is limited and often sells out during heavy visitor seasons.