There are parts of Hawaii that feel worlds away from the island chain’s popular beaches – jungles, rainforests, mountains and valleys, that transport you to another time and place – perhaps when dinosaurs roamed free?
Not only will these spots make you feel as though you’ve entered the world of Jurassic Park, but they actually were used in the filming of the 1993 classic. Here are 12 locations across the Hawaiian Islands – but mostly on Kauai – that were used in the filing of Jurassic Park – and you can actually visit all of them if you’re game for a little adventure.
1. The coast you see as Jurassic Park characters are approaching “Isla Nublar” is Kauai’s fabled Na Pali Coast.
2. The film’s prologue, where you see a park staff member falling prey to an unseen dino while being loaded into a container was shot at the Limahuli Garden, in Hanalei. The garden has been a part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden since 1976, and is open for tours.
3. The site of the Mano de Dios Amber Mine where a lawyer decides that a respected paleontologist is needed for the project, supposedly set in the Dominican Republic, was actually filmed near Hoopii Falls, on the Kapaa Stream.
4. Jurassic Park’s helipad was constructed at Manawaiopuna Falls, which is only visible from the air. On the same tour, you will probably fly through Hanapepe Valley, the same route that the helipcopter in the movie takes.
5. The outdoor café in San Juan, Costa Rica, was filmed on Kapaa’s waterfront. You remember this scene, right? You know, the scene where Dennis Nedry is paid to smuggle dinosaur embryos in a can of shaving cream.
6. Do you remember the electrified fence that must be taken care of before Ellie manages to restore the lethal current? Yeah, the fence was built near Olokele Valley, just northwest of Waimea.
7. Filmed at Kualoa Ranch, on the island of Oahu, is the scene where Alan Grant and the children unfortunately find themselves in the path of a herd of Gallimimus fleeing from a T-Rex. The fallen tree under which they take shelter can be found on the ranch.
8. Jurassic Park’s gates were erected at the base of Mount Wai’ale’ale, and though they were removed after filming, two tall poles still remain on either side of the path.
9. Puu Ka Ele Resevoir on the Jurassic Kahili Ranch was the backdrop for the scene featuring some of the new arrivals coming face to face with a brachiosaurus. The cattle ranch covers approximately 2,500 acres near Kilauea.
10. The Valley House Plantation Estate was transformed into the exterior of the Visitor’s Center, while the interior shots were filmed in an L.A. studio.
11. Alan Grant discovers that the dinosaurs have discovered how to reproduce after stumbling across the raptor nest at another National Tropical Botanical Garden site. This is Allerton Garden, and it is the same location where Jurassic Park’s maintenance shed was constructed.
12. Oh, and the coast near Nawiliwili Harbor was later used as the coast of Isla Soma in “The Lost World: Jurassic Park.”
What Hawaii locations make you feel as though you’ve entered Jurassic World? Am I the only one who wants to watch a marathon now?
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