Manoa Falls is a 150-foot

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...

along the

Manoa Falls Trail Mānoa Falls Trail is a trail on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The trail is a part of the Honolulu Makau Trail System, and leads to a popular 150 foot waterfall called Manoa Falls. Hiking the trail is approximately a one-hour round trip. Many to ...

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, Hawaii. Swimming in the pool below the waterfall is highly discouraged because there is a threat of becoming infected with Leptospirosis, a disease causing mild to moderate flulike symptoms that can last for 1 to 2 weeks. Many tourists are attracted to the waterfall and the scenery throughout the trail leading to it. Another attraction near Manoa Falls is the

Lyon Arboretum The Harold L. Lyon Arboretum is a arboretum and botanical garden managed by the University of Hawaii at Mānoa located at the upper end of Mānoa Valley in Hawaii. Much of the Arboretum's botanical collection consists of an artificial lowland t ...

, which preserves many endangered Hawaiian plant species. The hike to Manoa Falls and back takes about one hour. The waterfall and surrounding area experience rainfall almost every day, and flash floods can occur.

Characteristics

Manoa Falls is located on the island of

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

Manoa Valley Mānoa (, ) is a valley and a residential neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii, Hawaii. The neighborhood is approximately three miles (5 km) east and inland from downtown Honolulu and less than a mile (1600 m) from Ala Moana and Waikiki at . ...

. The Manoa Falls is a 150 foot waterfall that empties into a small pool of water. The waterfall is nestled in the mountains of Koolau in a

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equa ...

. Since the area surrounding the waterfall is considered a tropical rainforest, it is prone to heavy rainfall often making the ground damp and muddy The high amount of precipitation leads to a high amount of plant life near the falls. There is often less water in the waterfall during the summer months, which leaves peak tourism extending from summer to fall, before the rainy months of November–March.

Dangers

Leptospirosis

Swimming in the pool at the bottom of the falls is discouraged. This is due both to occasional rockfalls and to the bacterial disease leptospirosis, which causes severe flu-like symptoms. Leptospirosis is found in freshwater and is common in tropical climates. In Hawaii, rats and mice often carry the disease and can easily transfer it to humans through their urine.

Deaths

A 19 year old valedictorian from Kaiser High School, in Honolulu, Hawaii, died from falling from the top of Manoa Falls on June 15, 2016. Kirsti Takanishi died two days after the incident and the cause of death was determined to be from blunt force trauma to the head. A 27 year old man died from falling from the top of Manoa Falls on December 17th, 2018.{{Cite web, url=http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/12/17/breaking-news/man-27-dies-after-falling-about-75-feet-at-manoa-falls/, access-date=December 18, 2018, title=Man, 27, dies after falling about 75 feet at Manoa Falls The man's name has yet to be released. Phillip Scott Mann fell from the top of the falls and died on April 11th 2012. His body wasn't found until around 2p.m. the following day April 12th. Cause of death was blunt force trauma from the almost 200ft fall. Phillip was from Scottsmoor, Florida, and moved to Hawaii in 2011.

Ecology

The

is located in the Manoa Valley section of the Manoa Falls Trail. It contains over 5000 plant species. Some plant species included are

heliconia ''Heliconia'', derived from the Greek word (), is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the ca 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the we ...

s, gingers,

aroids The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). Also k ...

bromeliads The Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, ...

, and some native Hawaiian plants. Many tourists visit the arboretum but some also go for research and academic purposes. It provides several different programs that develop innovations to restore endangered native Hawaiian plants.

Sources

Waterfalls of Hawaii Oahu Landforms of Oahu Tourist attractions in Honolulu County, Hawaii