30-06-2025
Hawaiʻi Travel Update: A Developer Wants To Build A Gondola To The Top Of Oʻahu's Tallest Mountain. The Local Community Is Pushing Back.
Mt. Kaala is the highest peak of the Waianae Mountain Range and the highest peak on Oahu. A controversial proposed development plan would install a gondola or cable car to the top. getty
A gondola in Hawaiʻi? That's the goal of one tourism project that's brewing controversy on Oʻahu's North Shore.
The development plan, named 'Kamananui' and proposed by Kaukonahua Ranch, calls for the installation of a gondola or cable car ascending Mount Kaʻala in the Waiʻanae Mountain Range, Oʻahu's highest peak (4,026 feet).
According to the project description, it aims to attract about 1,700 visitors per day and will be complemented by other tourist-friendly attractions, like a zipline and cafe. The project leaders say it will focus on agritourism and cultural education for visitors to the island.
Some residents aren't so sure. In late June, roughly 100 people rallied to protest the proposed Kamananui project. Opponents of the idea—which include community leaders and cultural advocates—argue the mountain is sacred, home to unique ecosystems and ancestral significance, and that the influx of tourists would overload the area and cause headaches for locals.
Kaukonahua Ranch has scaled back elements of the proposal in recent years in order to appease concerned residents (it first applied for permits in 2019). The latest version reduces the number of ziplines from two to one, scales back tree planting and expands grazing areas.
Project coordinators maintain that the project aligns with existing permits and pledges local job creation and conservation efforts; local critics say that these amendments are 'agri-washing'—that is, disguising a tourism project as an agricultural project—and warrant a fresh environmental impact study and stronger community input.
'In Oahu, we have a lot of agri-washing,' State Representative Amy Perruso told Hawaiʻi News Now. 'So these projects are really about tourism, and we need to not only hold those developers accountable for that agri-washing, but then really stop those kinds of developments because we need that land for food sovereignty.'
Another public meeting is scheduled for late July to further discuss the contentious proposal, which is still under review by the Department of Planning and Permitting.
Hawaiʻi is no stranger to controversial projects and protests surrounding its high peaks. In recent years, several projects have been contested across the islands, such as adding new telescopes atop the summits of Mauna Kea and Haleakalā.
