Mānoa Falls is a 150-foot

waterfall A waterfall is any 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 seve ...

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 List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, Hawaii. Swimming in the pool below the waterfall is highly discouraged because there is a threat of becoming infected with

Leptospirosis Leptospirosis is a blood infection caused by the bacterium ''Leptospira'' that can infect humans, dogs, rodents and many other wild and domesticated animals. Signs and symptoms can range from none to mild (headaches, Myalgia, muscle pains, a ...

, 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 Mānoa Falls is the Lyon Arboretum, which preserves many endangered Hawaiian plant species. The hike to the waterfall and back takes about one hour. The waterfall and surrounding area experience rainfall almost every day, and

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...

s can occur.

Characteristics

Mānoa Falls is located on the island of

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, in Manoa Valley, and comprise 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 dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

. 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 Leptospirosis is a blood infection caused by the bacterium ''Leptospira'' that can infect humans, dogs, rodents and many other wild and domesticated animals. Signs and symptoms can range from none to mild (headaches, Myalgia, muscle pains, a ...

, 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 Mānoa Falls on June 15, 2016. Kristi 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 Mānoa Falls on December 17, 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 11, 2012. His body was not 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 Lyon Arboretum is located at the entrance to the Mānoa Falls Trail in

Mānoa Valley Manoa (, ; ) is a valley on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It is a residential neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii. The neighborhood is approximately three miles (5 km) east and inland from downtown Honolulu and less than a mile (1600 m) from ...

. It contains over 5000 plant species. Some plant species included are

heliconia ''Heliconia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku (province), ...

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

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 An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

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

Sources