Our family of five (2 grownup parents + 3 boys age 5, 9, 11) went on a private 5 hr tour with Erik. We had a lovely, wonderful time. This was our 2nd time at Volcanoes. Erik was very thoughtful to understand how to make his tour additive to the experience we already had since we wanted to experience new areas of this stunning and rich national park. We all are curious about many different aspects of Volcanoes including: Hawaiian culture, Hawiian mythology, the fauna, the birds, the geology/volcanology. Erik's knowledge was incredibly in-depth in ALL of these areas. He quickly gauged everyone's physical stamina to recommend excellent hikes for us, and knew when to pivot on a dime to challenge the kids a bit more by extending our first hike. He was incredibly attentive to everyone's questions. And we had LOTS of them. My five year old loved calling out, "Erik, what's this?" many..many times. (Oh bless his patience.) He was an overall pleasure to be around for 5 hours which I think is hard to say for even people near and dear to you. And we appreciated how extremely generous he was with his knowledge, clear in his storytelling, and intentional with how he broke down more complicated scientific concepts while showing pictures to our little ones. One of our favorite memories of the Big Island will be hunting for Pele's hairs and reticulite with Erik near a very secluded fissure and spatter rampart wall in a Mars-like lanscape filled with cinder and green spots of young ohia trees. For whoever wants to visit Volcanoes, and truly see and learn about the land, the Hawaiian people, and what is magically happening underneath that cracked surface, I would only recommend one private tour, and that's Kilauea EcoGuides. Thank you, Erik and Malia!
