What is it like to live on Niihau?

Residents live for free on the island, primarily in one very small village on the west side, and eat free meat. There is no running water or electricity. Yeah it is a privately owned island. The only way that you can live there is if your related to them or are very good friends with their family.



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No one is allowed to land on Niihau unless you are a resident of the island, a member of the Robinson family, or an invited guest. The Robinson family permits helicopter tours, but contact between the visitors and natives is not allowed. Fishermen and sailors may visit the island by sea, but are not able to land.

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The island's small population fluctuates as Niihauans travel or move off the island. The Niihau Cultural Heritage Foundation says that number can drop to below 30 during the summer months as people travel for pleasure or work. People leave the island all the time, Peter T.

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A hint: It's not because you have to be rich and famous to visit the island. Quite the contrary, Niihau's owners are upholding a promise made to a former Hawaiian king to protect the island from the outside world and to maintain the island's beloved Hawaiian heritage.

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Great selection of hotels in Niihau Whether you're searching for hotels in Niihau on business, or hunting for a family getaway, Niihau hotel options are only a click away. Find hotels in Niihau with the location, star-rating and facilities you need.

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Ni'ihau High & Elementary School or Niihau Island School is a public K-12 school in Niihau, Hawaii, United States. It is operated by the Hawaii Department of Education.

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They hunt and fish for food and have additional supplies brought in from Kauai. There is no telephone service, no hotels, no paved roads, only a handful of cars, and the island is entirely solar powered. The primary language spoken on Niihau is Hawaiian.

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No one is allowed to visit Hawaii's Forbidden Isle—the 70-square-mile island, which on a clear day can be spied from Kauai's west coast—unless they are invited by Niihau owners the Robinson family, or by one of its 70 full-time Native Hawaiian residents.

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King Kamehameha IV sold it for $10,000 in 1863 to Elizabeth Sinclair of Scotland. Her descendants, the Kamaaina (meaning “Old-Timer”) Robinson family, continue to live on the island and have attempted to preserve Hawaiian culture there.

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When the Sinclairs purchased the island in 1864, they committed to maintaining Niihau's Hawaiian culture. Brothers Bruce and Keith Robinson, descendants of the Sinclairs, own the island today, and they have continued to protect the island from the pressures of the outside world.

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It is home to free-ranging wild boar, feral hybrid sheep, aoudad, eland and oryx. The pigs are decedents of those brought by the first Polynesian settlers centuries ago, but the sheep were introduced in 1864 as part of the Niihau Ranch cattle and sheep operation.

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Niihau is now valued at $88 million, according to county tax records. The island's population has declined in recent decades in step with a shortage of jobs, according to the Niihau Cultural Heritage Foundation. Some residents make a living weaving prized Niihau shells into lei.

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Geology and Hydrology Ni'ihau has no perennial streams. Halulu Lake is a natural freshwater lake covering approximately 74 hectares (182 acres) and Halali'i Lake is an intermittent lake covering approximately 340 hectares (841 acres).

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Don't Even Try. While Niihau would be a perfectly stunning island to book a vacation to, it's already owned by the Robinson family. That means any and all visiting is off-limits and they can legally have you removed if you enter without permission. Tours via helicopter are the only way to get a good look at this place.

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It is not necessarily accurate to say that all Native Hawaiians & locals dislike tourists. Many Native Hawaiians work in the tourism industry & rely on it for their livelihoods. But, more commonly, people find that there are less and less Native Hawaiians willing to work in the tourism and hospitality industry.

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Some locals, many of them of Native Hawaiian descent, have gone so far as to argue that travelers should cross Hawaii off of their future itineraries for good. Tourism is seen as one of several factors that allowed the Maui fire to become so deadly.

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