Kau District

• Kau Average temperatures: 71° in winter, 75° in summer
• Annual rainfall: 48 inches

South Point. Photo courtesy Big Island Visitor Bureau.

Vast, rural dry, windblown, remote and friendly—that pretty well describes Hawaii Island’s southernmost region, which lies about an hour from the Hilo airport, and two hours from the Kona airport. Kau (Kah-oo) seems almost untouched by “civilization” except around the well-kept little communities of Naalehu and Pahala. In this moku, things have moved along at a pace all their own, and Kau’s few residents often move to the sound of that famous different drummer.

Mooring Holes at South Point. Photo courtesy Big Island Visitor Bureau.

Don’t take the 12-mile drive off the highway to Ka Lae (also called South Point) just because it’s the southernmost point in the United States — do it because it’s a remarkable place brimming with beauty and history. Here, where the sea crashes against the rugged cliffs, ancient loops carved into the lava hundreds of years ago to tie off fishing canoes are evidence of the old ways’ survival—as are today’s fishermen reeling in ulua (crevalle) and other deep-water fish from cliff’s edge. The future is here at Ka Lae too in the form of a field of giant, graceful, white windmills generating electricity.

Back up the road at Punaluu, the black sand beach offers a dramatic setting for sunbathing sea turtles.

The district rises inland to the upcountry Kau Desert within the boundaries of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Here one of Kilauea’s rare explosive eruptions has left the footprints of long-ago warriors trapped in volcanic ash. Taxing trails crisscross the land, from the mountains to the sea, daring backpackers to trek into wilder Hawaii.

Red Road South Hawaii. Photo courtesy Big Island Visitor Bureau.

But all is not raw and dry in Kau. On the eastern slopes, there are macadamia nut orchards, coffee farms, cattle and a Buddhist retreat. Wood Valley, near Pahala, is a place for meditation and respite from the outside world. No wonder Kau is home to not only Hawaiian families who have been here for generations, but also writers, artists, philosophers and others seeking solitude.

Kau District Photo Gallery

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These Kau photos show that, from its wind-swept southern point to the summit of its erupting volcano, this is a place of extraordinary evolutionary beauty.