Our Mission

We are a small, conservation-minded, sustainable business. We are local biologists, naturalists and educators offering day tours to some of the most significant locations around the Big Island of Hawaii. We operate year-round out of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

From our start, we’ve asked ourselves how we can protect the places that we love while enhancing the experience of the people we serve. To us, travel and tourism is more than a consumption experience, or an easy pass-through of culture. We believe that, done consciously and responsibly, travel can profoundly benefit both the visitor and the visited.

We don’t take our responsibility within the tourism industry lightly, and we are committed to a sustainable business model and a community-minded approach. We act as stewards of the land to this incredible island and we respect Native Hawaiian Culture deeply. It is our mission to provide our guests with as much cultural and historical information to deepen their understanding and respect for this truly special place. Respecting culturally significant locations on the island is key throughout our tours. The following are ways in which we strive to operate sustainably:

• We minimize energy consumption by using one vehicle and small group sizes for our tours. We buy local, on island whenever possible.
• To help minimize emissions and noise pollution, we always turn off our vehicle in parking areas or pullouts.
• We are saving for a plug-in hybrid vehicle for our small group tours. We look forward to becoming a zero-emissions guide service.
• We minimize the use of plastics and packaging as much as possible while maintaining safe food storage and handling. We use reusable cups, plates, and cutlery to minimize waste going into the landfill, and we recycle as much as possible.
• We encourage our guests to bring their own reusable water bottles, and we provide local, reverse osmosis filtered, water for refills on tour.

• We incorporate small business operators into our tour models when possible in order to encourage better communication and support within our community.
• The fresh made baked goods and picnic lunches that are served on our tours are prepared by local small businesses.
• We volunteer with Mauna Kea Forest Restoration Project in order to help conserve and protect the fragile ecosystem around Mauna Kea that is essential habitat for the endangered and endemic Palila and many other species.
• We donate tours for fundraising to help benefit local environmental and educational causes.