OUTDOOR
BOTANICAL RECLAMATION Kalani Pruet follows his heart to his family land and embraces simple living Words and Photos by Aubrey Yee
Follow the one and only road that winds towards Moloka‘i’s far-east end. Ambling along, you pass lowlands with restored ancient fishponds, some simple and some fancier homes dotted along the shoreline, beautiful bays with barely a person in sight and expansive ocean vistas, Maui far in the distance. Slowly, you ascend to high open plains with cattle roaming behind rustic wood fences, endangered ne-negeese can be seen in the fields, prospering here because of an innovative breeding program. You may begin to feel like you are in Montana or Wyoming, but the wild blue ocean is always visible on the right, retreating far below at the base of steep, rocky cliff faces. Eventually the route dips down, winding sharp and swift towards a valley floor. As you round another turn, this one otherwise indistinct from the many before it, the road twists sharply left and before you beckons a pristine panoramic vista reminiscent of ages past. Deep cut mountain walls descend sharply to a lush, verdant valley; two distinct white waterfalls are nestled in the back. Follow the imagined flow of water from the back of the valley seaward to the ocean where a blue bay at the river mouth mimics the curve of the road, a black-ish sand beach and river boulders gracing its shore. This is Ha-lawa, a seemingly mythic place where the east road ends and time stands still. 46
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Crescent-shaped Ha-lawa Bay meets the end of the road on Moloka‘i’s east end.