January 11, 2016

2205 UNITED STATES (Hawaii) - Akaka Falls State Park on Hawaii Island


Located about 18km north from Hilo, the park includes Akaka Falls, a 129m tall waterfall, surrounded by a lush green rainforest. Akaka means in the Hawaiian language "A rent, split, chink, separation; to crack, split, scale". The accessible portion of the park lies high on the right shoulder of the deep gorge into which the waterfall plunges, and the falls can be viewed from several points along a loop trail through the park. Also visible from this trail is Kahūnā Falls.

Akaka Falls is located on Kolekole Stream, which flows about 20km from an elevation of about 2,400m on the eastern slope of Mauna Kea to sea level. The Oopu alamoo is an endemic Hawaiian species of goby fish that spawns in stream above the waterfall, but matures in the sea. These fish have a suction disk on their bellies that allows them to cling to the wet rocks behind and adjacent to the waterfall. Using this disk, they climb back up to the stream when it is time to spawn.

About the stamps
The first stamp is part of the series Weddings, about which I wrote here. The second stamp is part of the series Harry Potter, about which I wrote here.

References
Akaka Falls State Park - Wikipedia

Sender: Denise
Sent from Greenvale (New York / United States), on 21.01.2014

No comments:

Post a Comment