Niʻihau

Niʻihau, is the westernmost main & seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaii. It is 17.5 miles (28.2 km) southwest of Kauaʻi across the Kaulakahi Channel. Its area is 69.5 square miles (180 km2).

Government

Elizabeth Sinclair purchased Niʻihau in 1864 for US $10,000 from the Kingdom of Hawaii. The island's private ownership passed on to her descendants, the Robinsons. The island, known as "the Forbidden Isle", is off-limits to all outsiders except the Robinson family & their relatives, U.S. Navy personnel, government officials, & invited guests. From 1987 onward, a limited number of supervised activity tours & hunting safaris have opened to tourists.

Industry & Trade

The people of Niʻihau are noted for their gemlike lei pūpū (shell lei) craftsmanship.

Points of interest

• Niʻihau Holy Church.

Tourism

Niʻihau's owners have offered half-day helicopter & beach tours of the island since 1987, although contact with residents is avoided & no accommodation exists. Since 1992, hunting safaris provide income from tourists who pay to visit the island to hunt eland, aoudad, & oryx, as well as wild sheep & boars. Any meat the hunters do not take with them is given to the village.

Geography

Niʻihau is located about 18 miles (29 km) west of Kauaʻi, & the tiny, uninhabited island of Lehua lies 0.7 miles (0.61 nmi; 1.1 km) north of Niʻihau. Niʻihau's dimensions are 6.2 miles by 18.6 miles (10 km × 30 km). The maximum elevation (Paniau) is 1,280 feet (390 m). The island is about 6 million years old, making it geologically older than the 5.8-million-year-old neighboring island of Kauaʻi to the northeast. Niʻihau is the remnant of the southwestern slope of what was once a much larger volcano. The entire summit and other slopes collapsed into the ocean in a giant prehistoric landslide.  Several intermittent playa lakes provide wetland habitats for the Hawaiian coot, the Hawaiian stilt, & the Hawaiian duck. The island is designated as critical habitat for Brighamia insignis, an endemic & endangered species of Hawaiian lobelioid.

Climate

The island is relatively arid because it lies in the rain shadow of Kauaʻi and lacks the elevation needed to catch significant amounts of trade wind rainfall. Niʻihau, therefore, depends on winter Kona storms for its rain, when more northerly weather systems intrude into the region. As such, the island is subject to long periods of drought.

Alternative Name(s)

The Forbidden Isle

Population

170

Inhabitant Demonym

Hawaiians

Owning Organization

Mages Association