Coordinates: 19°54′13.7052″N155°8′11.9076″W / 19.903807000°N 155.136641000°W
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.
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World Botanical Gardens and Waterfalls is a commercial botanical gardens with a large waterfall, located between Umauma and Hakalau, at the corner of Leopolino Road and Hawaii Belt Road, State Highway 19, 16 miles north of Hilo, Island of Hawaiʻi, Hawaii. The gardens are open daily with an admission fee. Major features include Kamaʻeʻe Falls, a 100-foot (30 m) waterfall, the second largest maze in Hawaii known as the Children's Maze, over 10 acres (0.040 km2) of arboretum, and many specialized garden areas.
A botanical garden or botanic garden is a garden dedicated to the collection, cultivation, preservation and display of a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names. It may contain specialist plant collections such as cacti and other succulent plants, herb gardens, plants from particular parts of the world, and so on; there may be greenhouses, shadehouses, again with special collections such as tropical plants, alpine plants, or other exotic plants. Visitor services at a botanical garden might include tours, educational displays, art exhibitions, book rooms, open-air theatrical and musical performances, and other entertainment.
A waterfall is an area where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops in the course of a stream or river. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
The Hawaiʻi Belt Road is a modern name for the Māmalahoa Highway and consists of Hawaiʻi state Routes 11, 19, and 190 that encircle the Island of Hawaiʻi. The southern section, between Hilo and Kailua-Kona is numbered as Route 11. The section between Hilo and Waimea is Route 19. Between Waimea and Kailua-Kona, the road is split in two: the original "mauka" route and a "makai" Route 19, completed in 1975, which serves as access to the Kona and Kohala Coast resorts. In the Hawaiian language, mauka means "towards the mountain" and makai means "towards the sea". These terms are commonly used in travel directions.
The gardens were founded in 1995 by Walter L. Wagner on 300 acres (1.2 km2) of agricultural land bordered by the Umauma River and extending up Mauna Kea's slope. The Rainforest Walk was the first portion open to public touring on July 4, 1995. [1]
Agricultural land is typically land devoted to agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of life—particularly the rearing of livestock and production of crops—to produce food for humans. It is thus generally synonymous with both farmland or cropland, as well as pasture or rangeland.
Mauna Kea is a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii. Its peak is 4,207.3 m (13,803 ft) above sea level, making it the highest point in the state of Hawaii. Most of the mountain is under water, and when measured from its oceanic base, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world measuring over 10,000 m (33,000 ft). Mauna Kea is about a million years old, and has thus passed the most active shield stage of life hundreds of thousands of years ago. In its current post-shield state, its lava is more viscous, resulting in a steeper profile. Late volcanism has also given it a much rougher appearance than its neighboring volcanoes due to construction of cinder cones, decentralization of its rift zones, glaciation on its peak, and weathering by the prevailing trade winds. Mauna Kea last erupted 6,000 to 4,000 years ago and is now considered dormant. The peak is about 38 m (125 ft) higher than Mauna Loa, its more massive neighbor.
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with annual rainfall in the case of tropical rainforests between 250 and 450 centimetres, and definitions varying by region for temperate rainforests. The monsoon trough, alternatively known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating the climatic conditions necessary for the Earth's tropical rainforests.
On September 2, 2004, a change of management of World Botanical Gardens took place, and in 2008 the Umauma Falls overlook and its surrounding 90 acres was sold to Umauma Experience. [2]
The Umauma Falls are located on the Umauma River on the Big Island of Hawaii, approximately 16 miles north of Hilo.
In 2009 the garden officially opened [3] a zip-line tour known as Zip Isle Zip Line Adventure descending into the Hanapueo stream gulch. This was to become one of many adventures that would initiate the collection known as Botanical World Adventures. The adventures include World Botanical Gardens, Zip Isle Zip Line and in 2011 the addition or Segway Off-Road Rainforest Adventure.
A stream is a body of water with surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. The stream encompasses surface and groundwater fluxes that respond to geological, geomorphological, hydrological and biotic controls.
In xeric lands, a gulch is a deep V-shaped valley formed by erosion. It may contain a small stream or dry creek bed and is usually larger in size than a gully. Sudden intense rainfall upstream may produce flash floods in the bed of the gulch.
