Talk Story with an Advertiser: Botanical World Adventures

Would you like to fly through a rain forest canopy, find your way through a maze, glide along a trail to view amazing gardens and waterfalls? You’ll find all of this and more at Botanical World Adventures on the Hāmākua Coast, about a half hour north of Hilo.

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Development of the botanical gardens started in 1995, slowly growing to what Botanical World Adventures offers today. The site was chosen due to the rainforest, its proximity to the highway and access roads. As caretakers of this ‘āina (land), Mark Robinson, General Manager and Kika Nixon, Operations Manager, are aware of their kuleana (responsibility) to share the history and beauty of this sacred place.

The gardens started with the Rainbow Garden Walk, the Children’s Maze, the world’s second largest permanently planted maze, and the clearing and paving of the Rainforest Trail. Guided garden tours, in addition to the existing self-guided tours, were added when the garden director, Dr. Lanny Neel, arrived in 2004. Guests are able to enjoy the impressive Kamae‘e and Hanapueo waterfalls along the River Walk Trail. The tours identify the plants in the gardens along with the incredible history and lore of the ‘āina. BWA has created a catalog of over 1,000 of the approximate 5,000 plants in the gardens, so far.

In 2008, BWA was looking for other ways for people to enjoy the gardens and came up with some new, unique adventures. Zip Isle Zip Line Adventure, a zip-line through the rainforest canopy, was born. The success of that led to yet another idea, using Segway Personal Transporters for off-road adventuring on trails they created in the rainforest. During the same time they launched a new self-guided tour called the Audio Walking Stick, which gives guests information about the gardens along the trail.

Mark comments, “We share the botanical gardens in ways others only have imagined. Each guest leaves enlightened on the importance of this place in the world. Our adventures give each guest interaction with our staff in an intimate setting to share their heritage and personal stories. We experience the challenges of any botanical garden, controlling the encroachment of the rainforest with ongoing maintenance, equipment and manpower costs. We are not a nonprofit entity so do not operate from donations or grants that other nonprofit botanical gardens have access to. We rely on our ability to provide fun and exciting adventures for our guests.”