Interesting Attractions on Larry Ellison’s Island of Lanai

On January 18th 2020, the Lanaʿi Culture & Heritage Center, in Lana’i City, celebrated its 13th anniversary. Visitors to Lanai should visit this museum to share and experience its stories about Lana’i’s heritage and natural history and also Hawaiian traditions, cultures, ranching and plantation era histories. The museum not only covers the island’s rich history but, with generous support from Larry Ellison’s company, Pulama Lanai, presents a vision for the future. The museum also is a place to pick up a map before starting trail hikes or other excursions on the island.

For a small island, Lana’i offers an amazing wealth of activities: snorkeling and swimming in the Hulopoe Bay marine reserve; hiking on more than 100 miles of trails; beachcombing and whale-watching along stretches of deserted beaches; horseback riding in a forest; four-wheel-driving to lava-cliff overlooks; and much more.

One of our favorite hiking trails and destinations is the Koloiki Ridge Trail. It starts at Larry Ellison’s Four Seasons Lodge. An offshoot of the Munro Trail, the Koloiki Ridge Trail is a five-mile out-and-back hike that starts beneath a canopy of ironwood trees and Cook pines. Planted in 1912 by the botanist and former manager of Lana’i Ranch, George Munro, the pine boughs were used as a means of securing water by trapping moisture from passing clouds. These Norfolk pines have needles that whisk moisture out of sea breezes. Because it is on the lee of West Maui, Lanai itself catches few rain clouds. From the Munro Trail, an arrow points the way down to Koloiki Ridge flanked on both sides by deep, dramatic gulches. Well worth the hike, from this vantage point there are fantastic views of Moloka‘i and Maui across the Pailolo Channel.