Most people know Waikiki to be a small stretch of hotels and beach, but it is also the name of one of the larger ahupua'a on the island of O'ahu. see O'ahu map

An ahupua'a is part of the indigenous land division system in Hawai’i. These sections of land extend from the mountain summits through valleys into the sea. It allowed the people who lived there a variety of terrains in which to farm, gather and hunt.

The ahupua'a of Waikiki was once filled with agriculture and aquaculture, fed by the streams that flowed from three valleys – Makiki, Manoa and Palolo. The streams throughout the valleys have been seriously polluted by urban, suburban, and industrial 'progress'. The parts of the streams that once flowed through the sub-section we now know as Waikiki were completely severed by the dredging of the Ala Wai Canal in the early 1900s, motivated by greed for money and power by the likes of Walter Dillingham.

The map to the left shows the streams that flowed and still flow toward Waikiki. In spite of it all, as long as there is rain, the streams will flow.

Click on dots for more information on the growing community efforts to reclaim the streams, and perhaps a working model for future self-sustenance for the people of Hawai'i.

Click on the stream names for name origins.

more dots coming soon