A popular story is being told by the Hawaiian people pertaining to the legend of the Manawaiopuna Falls. Hina, the god that lives in a cave behind the waters of the Rainbow Falls used to be hounded every now and then by Mo’o Kuna, supposedly a giant lizard. The lizard disrupted the river and falls by sending torrents of water and rocks over the falls.
Manawaiopuna Falls
Manawaiopuna Falls in the Hawaiian Paradise is also known as the Rainbow Falls. The Manawaiopuna Falls exists on the island of Hawaii near the town of Hilo in the Wailuku River State park. According to visitors to the falls, they see a rainbow forming from the rising mists in the early mornings thus the name Rainbow Falls.
According to the stories, there was this one time in a storm the nasty Mo’o Kuna moved a large rock into the river downstream of the falls to block it which caused the water level to rise that it began spilling into Hina's cave. Hina called to her son Maui for help. Maui a demigod, paddled his canoe from the island of Maui and up the mouth of the Wailuku River to the block in the river. He split the rock in two with a single blow to release the pent up water. Maui then called on Pele to send lava into the river to drive out the Mo’o from its hiding place as revenge. Mo’o was driven out to an area of deep potholes upstream. These deep potholes are now called ‘boiling pots’. When the lava reached the potholes, it caused the water to boil which killed Mo’o Kuna. Mo’o Kuna hid in the area of a series of potholes where the water eroded into an old lava flow under the river bed to escape Maui.
It is said that the potholes are likely connected underneath. And turbulence occurs during the winter storms making the water appear as if they are boiling. It’s fairly common to find riverbeds that are made of old lava flows in Hawaiian Islands because the islands were formed from the buildup of recurrent lava flows. At one point the Wailuku River had managed to erode a riverbed into two old lava flows, the Mauna Kea and the Mauna Loa when another volcanic eruption, the ‘Anuenue flow, filled in the river bed about 10,000 years ago.
Remnants of the old riverbed, very large boulders and rocks half buried in the new lava flow can still be seen today. Rainbow falls for the most part is famous for its mythical story. Accordingly, it is a little on the small side compared to many of the world’s more notable waterfalls at 80 feet tall. Also, another appeal is the rainbow that appears in the morning. Many varieties of plants grow around the falls such as Pine trees and Bamboo. A contributing factor is Hawaii’s tropical climate.
This water fall and many others were used for inspiration when creating Indoor Wall Fountains for your home and office.