The Gorgeous Hawaiian Landmark Fans Of Jurassic Park Will Recognize
It may have been over 30 years since the first "Jurassic Park" movie came out, and it became a cultural phenomenon and a franchise that now includes six movies. In the iconic scene where paleontologist Alan Grant (played by Sam Neill), paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (played by Laura Dern), and mathematician Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) arrive at the fictional Isla Nublar for the first time, they land in front of a stunning waterfall. While this film was groundbreaking for its use of special effects, this waterfall is very much real and one of the "Jurassic Park" filming locations you can actually visit. It's the 400-foot-tall Manawaiopuna Falls — which means "deep water" in Hawaiian — in Hanapepe Valley on Kauai.
The characters in "Jurassic Park" saw Manawaiopuna Falls via helicopter, and that is the only way that you can see it, too — the falls are on private land, and they aren't accessible via trail or road. While there are a couple of different helicopter tour operators on Kauai, only Island Helicopters have permission to land at Manawaiopuna Falls. Just flying over the waterfalls is, by itself, a pretty cool experience, but landing there is next level, bucket list kind of travel.
Travelers love landing at Manawaiopuna Falls
If you're really looking to live out your own "Jurassic Park" fantasies — minus the angry T. rexes and raptors, of course — book the "Jurassic Falls" helicopter tour with Island Helicopters; they even play the theme song from the movie as you fly in. Even if you're not a fan of the movies, a Hawaii helicopter tour plus a chance to hike next to a massive, remote waterfall — it's definitely worth adding to the list of the best things to do in Kauai.
The tour lasts 75-80 minutes, which includes about 25 minutes on the ground at the falls. One Yelp reviewer described it as, "Definitely an experience of a lifetime!" And one Tripadvisor reviewer said, "I cannot recommend the Jurassic Falls tour enough. This was easily the highlight of our time on Kauai and just gave us the full experience of the island."
The experience is, admittedly, on the pricier side — it costs $404 while the cost of their "Grand Skies" tour which takes you by the falls but without the landing is $250. But the extra $150 seemed to have been justified for plenty of customers; one person wrote on Tripadvisor, "The waterfall landing is completely worth the extra $, it is just amazing — something you will not understand until you experience [it] yourself!"
Manawaiopuna Falls is one of a number of Jurassic Park sites on Kauai
If a trip to Manawaiopuna Falls is a can't miss for you on your trip to Hawaii, try and schedule it early in your trip. That way if it gets canceled because of weather, you have a better chance of getting it rescheduled before your vacation is over. You should also plan to wear black or dark clothing to help reduce the reflection in the helicopter windows as you take pictures of the island.
Beyond seeing Manawaiopuna Falls on the "Jurassic Falls" flight, they also fly you over much of the island, including the Na Pali Coast in northwest Kauai, which has also been used as a filming location for "Jurassic Park" movies. Other "Jurassic Park" sites on Kauai include Nawiliwili Harbor in Lihue, which was used in "Jurassic Park: The Lost World" and Allerton Garden, a botanical garden used as a set for "Jurassic Park" and "The Lost World: Jurassic Park." Beyond Kauai, Kualoa Ranch on Oahu is another must-visit for "Jurassic Park" lovers.