Kipu Ranch Tour was a Blast in Yamaha Rhinos

| September 21, 2009 | 0 Comments

Kipu Ranch Tour

While vacationing in Kauai last year, I convinced my family and friends to try a little off-roading adventure. We hooked up with the folks at Kipu Ranch Adventures since they had four seat Yamaha Rhinos that were perfect fit for our two families.

In February 2008 when we were there, they had a fleet of sixteen Yamaha Rhinos. Several of the Rhinos had been outfitted with a full cage and extra seat so they could carry a family of four. They also use Can-Am ATVs.

Kipu Ranch Adventures takes you on an off-road tour of a working 4,000-acre cattle ranch that is owned by the Rice family. The ranch extends from the Huleia River to the top of the Haupu Mountains. Beautiful mountains, valleys, waterfalls, forests and lush pastures that have made it the site of many movies such as Raiders of the Lost Arc, Outbreak, Six Days & Seven Nights, Mighty Joe Young, Hook and Jurassic Park. Tall, narrow Cook pines, planted more than 100 years ago by Captain James Cook for replacement ship masts, still lined the road near the ranch.

The tour of the ranch takes about three hours and they supply bandannas, helmets and safety goggles.

I thought that the ride was a great detour from the “normal” activities in Hawaii. And for our friends that have never done any off-roading, it was a very memorable adventure.

History of the Rice Ranch

Kipu Ranch is a 3,000 acre working cattle ranch located in the historic Kipu area of Kauai. The land was once owned by the Hawaiian monarchy, but sold to William Hyde Rice in 1872. Rice, the son of Protestant missionaries, was a loyal subject who later served as the last governor of Kauai under Queen Liliuokalani. Rice intended to use the land to breed cattle and horses.

Livestock remained the ranch’s primary business until 1907 when Rice’s son began to grow sugarcane. In the early 1940’s the family once again returned the land to ranching which remains its use today.