KAUAI WILDLIFE REFUGE ECO TOUR:

Safari is the first and only legally authorized company to provide a remote landing on the island of Kauai since all helicopters were banned from landing anywhere over 25 years ago. Any other company that purports to do a remote landing on a regular basis is doing so on an illegal basis.

The Kauai Wildlife Refuge is located within the Robinson Ranch on property exclusively own by Keith Robinson who has been dedicated to the preservation of Hawaiian Endangered Species Plants. This site over looks the Olokele Canyon owned by the Robinson Family and is totally inaccessible to the public otherwise. You will be able to view the vastness of this particular canyon and the wonders of possible rainbows and waterfalls in the distance. The canyon is sometimes called the East Fork of the Waimea Canyon and extends from Waimea to the back west side of Mt. Waialeale Crater. There are no public roads or overlooks by land to view this spectacular site. A number of films were produced at this location such as one of the scenes from the movie Jurassic Park.

The pilot will discuss the Robinson Family history and the discuss plans to develop the property into a wildlife preserve for native Hawaiian plants endemic to the Hawaiian Islands Keith Robinson.

At the stop over site, there are restrooms and picnic tables. Refreshments will also be served.

The flight portion is the same as the Deluxe Waterfall Safari but upon reaching the Kauai Wildlife Refuge overlooking the Olokele Canyon the helicopter will land at this most unique and beautiful spot. After the 30-minute stopover, the flight will continue on its normal air tour around the island as described above.

Some restrictions; we will fly this tour Monday thru Friday excluding certain other holidays and Weather permitting

Part of this tour proceed is going to the preservations of Kauai Wildlife Refuge

KAUAI'S NEW ECO ADVENTURES STARTS UP !

Travelers coming to the Hawaiian Islands in search of wild open spaces are often amazed to find such a abundance of it. The Hawaiian "aina" or land looks, on first sight, to be a true undisturbed ecosystem and in many respects it is. Hawaiian ecology is not all problem free, in fact like so many of the words natural areas the problems are not always readily apparent. For Hawaii's ecosystems the primary problems are erosion and invasive species. Because the flora and fauna of Hawaii has evolved in relative isolation many of these endemic plants and animals have developed very little competitive characteristics and are therefore susceptible to more competitive invasive species. This destructive trend has been seen all through the Hawaiian Islands where certain invasive plants will grow taller than the endemic plants making a canopy and shading them out, or the problems with rats, which were imported on ships, and have decimated native bird populations, to mention a few of the most obvious examples.

Safari Helicopters is doing something about it. On Kauai, Safari Helicopters has teamed up with Keith Robinson over the concerns about these Hawaiian eco system threats. Keith Robinson is a descendant of the famous Robinson family and heir to thousands of acres across Kauai and Niihau. The vision of Safari Helicopters and Mr. Robinson is to fund environmental recovery programs with tourism dollars. Mr Robinson and the Preston & Grace of Safari Helicopters have a new tour planed to take Kauai visitors into the remote interior locations of Kauai where very few ever set foot and take a certain amount of the profits to fund environmental restoration and reforesting projects. There are very few programs like this that are funded by the Hawaii state government. The more that tourist dollars go into eco aware proposals such as this, the more likely these fragile Hawaiian ecosystems have to survive.

Currently Kauai helicopter tour operators are not allowed to land anywhere on Kauai other than the heliports. The new Safari Eco tour will be the only Kauai helicopter tour that actually lands on a small jungle landing pad in a spectacular wilderness area of Kauai. In fact, the location is in one of the most fantastic locations on Kauai, Olokele Canyon, which features spectacular waterfalls, valleys and lush tropical landscapes. This will certainly be the most unique tour on Kauai and because it also gives back to the island makes this tour all the more promising.

This new Safari Helicopter tour will be called the KAUAI WILDLIFE REFUGE ECO TOUR and it is part of a newly emerging trend of eco tourism happening in the Hawaiian islands. More visitors coming to Hawaii are looking for eco based adventures and accommodations and Hawaii is the perfect place to create this new, forward thinking form of vacationing.

If you would like to read more about this eco tour click on this link, which will take you to the original Kauai Garden Island newspaper article - here's the link: Kauai's Eco Helicopter Tour Article.