Tour Offers Unique View of Kalaupapa

Photo by Léo Azambuja

By Léo Azambuja

It is nearly impossible for the general population to understand the suffering, the joys, the daily lives of those diagnosed with Hansen’s disease — also known as leprosy — and sent on a one-way ticket to Kalaupapa, one of the most geographically isolated communities in Hawaii.

But now, people can at least have a glimpse of the last 150 years there. The Kalaupapa Saints Tour opened in September, offering an intimate experience for eight guests at a time, led by a tour guide vetted by one of the last living patients in Kalaupapa. 

“People, when they come down, respect and listen what the tour guide gonna say, explain to them what is all about here in Kalaupapa,” 90-year-old Meli Watanuki said. She was sent there in 1969, after being diagnosed with Hansen’s disease, and never left. 

“This is a special place because of Father Damien and Mother Marianne,” Watanuki said, referring to the late Catholic leaders canonized by the Vatican years ago. “Bless this place and our people.”

The last time a tour operated at Kalaupapa National Historical Park was before the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020. Since then, the town had been off-limits to the general public. 

Watanuki is the sole owner of Kalaupapa Saints Tour. Only patients are allowed a commercial permit issued by the National Park Service, which co-manages the peninsula with the state Department of Health. The Saints Tour is operated by Seawind Tours & Travel, Inc.

“Yes, I work for auntie (Meli Watanuki), I think we all do,” Seawind CEO and founder Randy King said, turning to his staff during a media tour in Kalaupapa last month.  

The only mode of transportation to Kalaupapa is a nine-passenger airplane operated by Mokulele Airlines. Tour guests are picked up at Kalaupapa Airport — a small pavilion — on a van driven by tour guide John Meadows. Going beyond the airport without a proper permit can mean an arrest and a fine.

From the start, Meadows reminds visitors the term “leper” to refer to Hansen’s disease patients carries a painful meaning, and it is unwelcomed and avoided. “Today, we use a simple word; we just call them patients,” he said. 

The word “aloha,” Meadows said, is more than a greeting; it means love, compassion, kindness and respect. It is also a spirit of welcoming, of living in harmony with the land, the people and everything surrounding us, he said. 

“When you step in at Kalaupapa, you enter a place where aloha was not just spoken, it was lived daily. In the face of hardship and segregation, patients had embraced each other as family, or ‘ohana, and supported one another with dignity, and created joy in the most difficult times. As you walk through this sacred place, may aloha remind you to listen with compassion, to walk with respect and to carry forward the legacy of those who live here, so their stories can be continued and inspire generations to come,” Meadows said.

As the tour enters town, there is a foretaste of the pain endured by those sent to live and die in Kalaupapa. Cemeteries line up the main road. When patients die, they are buried within 24 hours; there is no embalming service in Kalaupapa, Meadows said. The last patient buried in the peninsula was only a couple months ago. 

Altogether, there are more than 15 cemeteries throughout Kalaupapa. But out of roughly 8,000 patients buried there, only about 1,200 are in marked graves. And then there are countless more unmarked graves of Native Hawaiians who lived there before it became a Hansen’s disease settlement.

Meadows stops a few times for photos, while explaining the town’s history and daily life. He points to houses where patients used to live, old buildings of varied purposes, a slaughterhouse, a chicken farm, the post office, a tiny gas station and many churches of different denominations. 

“Church was a big part of life here. It gave them hope,” Meadows said.

St. Francis Church is the only one still operating, with daily masses conducted by Catholic priest Patrick Killilea. The church was built in 1908 to replace the original chapel built in 1873 by Father Damien and burned down in 1906. 

An odd, long-shaped building was used for families to visit patients. Its interior used to be separated by a screen running the entire length of the building.

“The right side was for visitors … the left side was for patients. There was no touching each other,” Meadows said.

The only market is off-limits to visitors; it is for patients, and state and federal workers. Visitors can buy books, shirts and souvenirs at the town’s bookstore at the Americans of Japanese Ancestry Hall, built in 1910. Old photographs on display there reveal details of Kalaupapa and former residents.

On the eastside, guests visit Siloama and St. Philomena churches, and the grave where some of Father Damien’s remains are buried. At Judd Park, a breathtaking view overlooks uninhabited islets and valleys beyond Kalaupapa. 

History of Kalaupapa

In the mid-1860s, Hansen’s disease — which had no treatment or cure at that time — spread throughout Hawaii. In 1865, the kingdom’s Legislature passed the Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy, approved by King Kamehameha V. 

This meant every Hawaiian citizen diagnosed with Hansen’s disease would be sent to Kalaupapa, chosen because its skyscraping sea cliffs and merciless ocean provided an effective isolation from the rest of the world. But for hundreds of years, Kalaupapa was already inhabited by Hawaiians, who would trade with residents from nearby Pelekunu and Wailau valleys, both now uninhabited.

On Jan. 6, 1866, the first 12 patients — nine men and three women — were sent to Kalaupapa to live their last days there. Meadows said the government hoped they would grow their own crops, but “they were just too sick, so luckily, the Hawaiians helped out.”

“If it wasn’t for the first Hawaiians and the Protestant ministers who were there, they probably wouldn’t survive a day,” said Sister Alicia Damien Lau, who first arrived in Kalaupapa in 1965 to serve at St. Francis Church.

Some of the original inhabitants of Kalaupapa continued to live there among the patients, but they were evicted in January 1895, a year after the Republic of Hawaii was established.

For the first few years, people banned to Kalaupapa encountered very little, if any, infrastructure to survive. It was only after the arrival of Belgium Catholic priest Josez De Veuster, widely known as Father Damien, in 1873 that the patients’ living conditions improved significantly, as he was a vocal advocate for their rights. 

In 1888, Mother Marianne Cope, of the Sisters of Saint Francis, arrived at Kalaupapa, where she managed the Bishop School for Girls. 

Father Damien died at 49 years old on April 15, 1889, of complications from Hansen’s disease acquired while tending to patients. Mother Marianne died at 80 years old from natural causes on Aug. 9, 1918. 

In the mid-1940s, sulfone drugs provided a cure for the disease. But it wasn’t until 1969 that the isolation law was lifted. 

Pope Benedict XVI canonized Father Damien on Oct. 9, 2009, and Mother Marianne on Oct. 12, 2012.

Watanuki was the last person sent to Kalaupapa. She could have left, but like the majority of those forced to live in the peninsula, she chose to stay. 

“It is a blessed place because of Father Damien and St. Marianne, and I love this place. I will never move out,” Watanuki said, adding it is her wish to be buried next to St. Damien.

Future of Kalaupapa

Kalaupapa Park Superintendent Nancy Holman said there are only six remaining patients, and how many reside full-time at the peninsula is a matter of privacy. However, it is hardly a ghost town; there are dozens of NPS and DOH workers living part-time there, tending to the place and needs of the remaining patients.

Seawind Tours offers only two-to-four tours per month. King said he and Holman spent a lot of time and energy to make sure the tour remains respectful to the community. Watanuki wanted a daily tour, King said, but this would affect the community’s way of life and put pressure on the limited number of seats on flights in and out of Kalaupapa. 

Holman said it is tricky to talk about the future of Kalaupapa, because it assumes a future in which no longer there are living patients. 

“For most people that care about Kalaupapa, they care about an individual that was sent here, whether they have already passed on or whether they really will pass sometime in the near future,” Holman said. “So, I think that has always made it difficult to talk about a future here.”

In 2021, after 10 years of planning, a general management plan was approved. It “paints a picture” with commercial enterprises and opportunities for self-guided experiences, as well as protection of culturally and ecologically sensitive resources. But exactly how that gets implemented will still have to go through public process, according to Holman.

“We are really trying to balance a way in which we can provide for that access while still maintaining that sense of quietude, that sense of place and also protecting these really rare treasures,” Holman said.

Despite Watanuki wanting more visitors to experience Kalaupapa through her tours, she is opposed to opening the town to just anyone in the future. 

“What they gonna do with this place? For myself, I hope this place no open up. You know, to open up (to) anybody. Just leave them alone, this place.” Watanuki said.

She often speaks with a smile, loves to hug people and tells them to “come back again.” As she said a few times, she just wants respect for Kalaupapa and its patients. 

Tours can be booked at www.seawindtours.com or calling (808) 949-4144. But all tours are sold out until the end of the year — King said they sold out in an hour and 10 minutes after being available online. The 2026 tour dates are still being finalized. 

All visitors must have a Hawaii State Department of Health visitor permit and be at least 16 years old. Visit www.nps.gov/kala to learn more about Kalaupapa National Historical Park.