When you visit Hawaii, you have many options for tourist activities.
A “carving tour” might sound odd, but the ancient art of shaping wood has been a huge part of Pacific Islander culture since there were Pacific Islanders. If you have interest in Hawaiian history or culture, then a carving tour is a fun way to learn more.
The tour is taught by a Tongan carving master named Mani. His father taught him all about wood carving since he was a child, and he is teaching his own children to carve as well. It’s a meaningful way to keep Pacific Islander culture alive.
Ancient Pacific Islanders carved wood into canoes to travel between islands, into dishes to eat from, and into Tiki figurines to ward off evil spirits.
During the tour, you are given a piece of Koa wood, and under the direction of the instructor, you shape it into the Tiki of your choice. However, you also get to talk story about the history of wood carving in the Pacific Islands, and about the meaningful place it holds in cultures from South Korea to the Pacific Northwest, and everywhere in between.
I didn’t do the ATV Culture Tour, but that tour takes you around to recreations of villages representing Hawaii, Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa. You’re able to learn about some of the cultures that make up the Pacific Islands.
Walking around the property is also nice. There are vanilla vines on the gift shop. The ancient Hawaiian jungle is filled with interesting plants and amazing views. It’s a peaceful place to spent time.
Aloha Adventure Farms is a nice place to spend a day. If you visit the Big Island of Hawaii, it’s worth a trip.
I booked the farm tour with lunch. When I arrived, we all sat down to eat. While we ate, our tour guide described each course and how vanilla had been added to it as a way to enhance the flavors of the foods. With many locally sources ingredients and vanilla grown on the property, it was a delicious meal.
After lunch, we walked down to one of the grow houses where the vanilla vines are located. For those who didn’t feel up to the walk, a shuttle was provided. One of the women on the tour with me was there for her 80th birthday, and she had an easy time getting in and out of the shuttle. I would say that the tour is very accessible.
Once inside the vanilla grow house, we were treated to a very detailed history of the vanilla vine, the story of the farm, and then a live demonstration of how the vanilla flowers are pollinated.
I felt very lucky to be visiting in August, when the vines had flowers and beans on them. Check out these pictures of the grow house full of vanilla vines!
My tour guide, Zak, was extremely knowledgeable and took time to answer everyone’s questions. This brings me to a thing I remember every time I do some of the tourist activities here in Hawaii: Please tip your tour guides.
I know it can feel like you shouldn’t have to spend more money after you have already paid for a tour. Some of you will want to spend any leftover money in the gift shop, and I understand that. I know local businesses appreciate you paying for tours and spending money in gift shops.
Many tourists from cultures that don’t have tipping find the concept offensive. Honestly, I wish Americans were paid well enough that the custom was no longer necessary. However, it is customary here to tip your tour guides, waiters and waitresses, bellhops, and other service industry workers. Please factor this in when you are budgeting for how much you will spend on activities during your vacation.
The standard gratuity for a tour guide is between $10 and $20, depending on how much information they shared and how much fun they made your experience. I just want to share this for folks from places like South Korea and France who don’t know about this custom, since tipping is not standard in their countries.
The tour ends at the gift shop, which has a wide range of products. For those who are planning to buy gifts for family and friends back home, plan on spending some money for the variety of products from vanilla extract to vanilla sugar. It’s a delightful array of foods, as well as other products like clothing and coffee mugs.
The Hawaii Vanilla Company is in a beautiful historic building surrounded by eucalyptus forests. The bathrooms are clean, the eating areas are beautiful, and the food is amazing.
I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone visiting Hawaii Island.
Note: I am lactose intolerant, so I opted out of the coffee and ice cream at the end of the tour. The other guests seemed to really enjoy this finishing touch, so you’ll have more to look forward to than what you see pictured in my post.
Before I left the farm, I walked all around the building to appreciate the garden. If you are there when the weather is nice, I highly recommend taking the time to do this. From the food plants to the flowers, it’s a very impressive array of plants.
Of course, nothing there is as fabulous as the vanilla orchids. They really are marvelous plants.
Lavaloha Chocolate Farm is nestled up the mountain from Hilo on the slopes of Mauna Kea volcano. Visit there website here for a full history of the farm or to book a tour. I recently took a tour of the farm, and I was very impressed.
The shuttles that you tour the farm in are easy to board and dismount, so those who are elderly or need mobility aids should have no trouble. The tour is not wheelchair accessible, but the shop is.
My tour guide -Jessica- was extreme knowledgeable about cacao and the chocolate-making process. She shared a variety of farm history, information about chocolate, and fun facts about the Hawaiian Islands. I was impressed with her, and I appreciated her speaking in a loud, clear voice since I have hearing loss. She was a wonderful guide.
The tour consists of going to see the orchard, trying unprocessed cacao fruit, seeing how beans are dried, and enjoying samples of different types of chocolate in the tasting lounge. There was also a video detailing exactly how they process the beans once they are dried, as the process of turning cacao into chocolate is laborious.
The tour then finishes at the gift shop, which has a variety of Hawaiian products in addition to chocolate.
For me, the most impressive aspect was learning about the off-grid sustainable farm itself, and about how they contribute to the community at large. In my travels to some places -like Cancun for example- I have been disappointed to find that the companies running tours pollute the environment, or that they are owned by a foreign investor who doesn’t give back to the community. Lavaloha Farms is a sustainable project with mindful intentions towards giving back tot he community and the environment. From their pollinator garden to their land-share program with local farmers, you can spend money there without feeling any guilt.
I would recommend this tour to anyone visiting Hawaii Island.
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