Finding Your Way — Navigation and Wayfinding in Hawaii
Why is important to your nature journaling practice to know where you are and where you’re going? Well, the most important reason is that you don’t get lost while on out on a trail! But it’s more than that, because orienting yourself to a place means you also pay attention to the weather and the sun and moon. When you do this, you can better understand the growth pattern of plants and the behavior of animals by understanding the direction they’re facing and the relative location they’re in.
The simplest way to use navigation in your nature journal is to use directional terms in your journaling to describe your location, which way you’re facing (especially if you’re drawing a landscape or landscapito), but also the direction of phenomenon — sounds, movement of the clouds, rain, wind, shadows, as well as animals, water, etc.
You can use Kate Rutter’s 4 Directions journaling prompt to compare the views all around you.
You can also practice using Hawaiian and local terminology while drawing a map, such as in this activity from the Wild Wonder Foundation: https://www.wildwonder.org/activity-mapping
And you can nature journal the night sky to connect to traditional methods of wayfinding.
Compass Terms in Hawaiian
North, South, East, West = ʻĀkau, Hema, Hikina, Komohana
ʻĀkau also means to the right, and hema is to the left. This makes sense if you imagine you are moving with the sun, starting in hikina and setting in komohana — north is to your right and south is to your left. Orienting yourself this way is different than the western habit of starting out facing north.
Everyday Terms
mauka (also: i uka): towards the mountains
makai (also: i kai): towards the sea
On a small island with prominent mountain ranges, it is easier to give directions and orient yourself by indicating whether your destination “up” towards the mountains (mauka) or “down” towards the sea (makai). With practice, you begin to always mentally keep track of where the mountains are and where the ocean is as you travel around.
windward, the side of the island (or canoe) that faces the wind. The Hawaiian term is iluna, or upwards (upwind). There are other phrases for this as well. The northeast side of the islands faces towards the tradewinds, which is the most common type of wind. This side of the island is usually wetter, as the humid winds blow across the land, rise up the mountains, and turn into rainclouds. Ko’olau is the Hawaiian word that refers to the windward side of the islands. The mountain range on the east side of Oahu is called the Ko’olau range, and the land is divided into two districts: Ko’olaupoko and Ko’olauloa.
leeward, the side that is downwind. The Hawaiian terms lalo, or down (downwind). The leeward side of our islands is usually drier, as the clouds have already formed and rained over the mountains, and so the winds that come over the mountains are drier. Kona is the Hawaiian term for the downwind side of the islands, which is to the southwest. The term “Kona winds” refers to wind that blows in the opposite direction of the usual tradewinds, from west to east, and it usually brings rain to the Kona side and dry weather to the Ko’olau side.
Oahu Terms
On Oahu, you often hear the terms the north shore, south shore, west side, and east side. It should be noted that these are in reference to Honolulu, and often refer to surfing areas. The “West side” is where get to when you drive west from Honolulu, even though parts of it are technically still on the southwest side of the island. Similarly, the “East side” often refers to the southeast corner of the island. The “North shore” is the entire upper area of the island, and some of these coasts face east and some face west.
When in Honolulu/Pearl City area, people often refer to ‘ewa or diamond head instead of west or east.
If you have different terms for your island, send them to me and I’ll add them to this resource!
Wayfinding and Celestial Navigation
Learn about the ancient methods of navigation using the stars, wind, and currents, and how they’re being taught and used in modern times: https://waahonua.com/non-instrument-navigation/
More lesson plans, worksheets, and activity ideas are available from Kamehameha schools here: https://www.ksbe.edu/holomoana/kumu (Sort by Subject: “Science”)
