Dr. Roland Bourdeix Visits Koali Niu to Identify Rare Hawaiian Coconuts

A Very Exciting Week at Koali Niu

This has been a very exciting week at Koali Niu with a visit from the world’s leading coconut authority, Dr. Roland Bourdeix.

Since his arrival, we have been scouring Hāna for rare Hawaiian coconut varieties. We have visited private yards, a coconut orchard, and several large farms in Kīpahulu, including Whispering Winds and Ono, the largest organic farm in the state.

Everywhere we went, people welcomed us warmly. They generously shared their time and drove us across the acreage in Kawasaki four-wheelers so we could explore more of the land.

Searching for Rare Hawaiian Coconut Varieties

Dr. Roland and Jit have already made some exciting discoveries. They are now doing the lab work needed to begin cataloging the varieties they found.

Some of these coconuts will go into our nursery first. After they sprout, we will move them into the gene bank.

As the photos show, they found coconuts of many sizes and shapes. They also discovered some rare coconut flowers, which made the week even more remarkable.

Why This Work Matters

This process is thrilling to witness. It is inspiring to watch brilliant minds at work while helping protect the future of Hawaiian coconut diversity.

Each discovery brings us one step closer to preserving rare coconut varieties for future generations. That is what makes this work so meaningful.

Dr. Roland has written a beautiful book and his work is also about documenting migration throughout the Pacific with the coconut. This is all amazingly interesting and I feel lucky to have him involved with our Koali Niu project.

Besides the coconut work Chris has been clearing the point so there is a better view down into the stone beach part a bit of Wailua Valley where hundreds of Hawaiians lived. They hiked up here to work the taro lo’i.

We went to a woman named Pat’s house as someone had told me about a tree in her yard. Besides checking out the coconuts I got to know her. She was married to a man whose twin brother was in a sad Hana mishap where five Hana men got in the Sara Jo boat to go fishing and were never seen again. The boat and some bones were found down in the Marshall Islands many months later. Pat is pictures here with the boat where she will make a shrine for the men. Pat has many projects as I do so am looking forward to getting to know her better.

I forgot to mention what a fun weekend the reunion was along with seeing a few friends along with my water exercise buddies who asked me to do this blog. A lot of the reunion was about the past and now it is great to be moving forward with this meaningful project-a coconut research center and possibly an education center and museum. It is all in the dream!

It is a beautiful time of year here and the shower tree we planted is going off.
Thanks for tuning in and wishing you a great week ahead with some dreams.

Aloha Nui,

Vicky