The many islands of Hawaii were the evolution of a series of spectacular volcanic explosions and activities millions of years ago. Some of the volcanoes in Hawaii are still active volcanoes such as the Kilauea Volcano, on south-eastern part of the Big Island, is still spitting hot brilliant lava into the Pacific Ocean today.



The Big Island of Hawaii, the largest Hawaiian island is actually the youngest of the Hawaiian Islands. Some of Hawaii's volcanoes can only be viewed from the air by helicopters such as those at the Volcano National Park. This is because accessibility is blocked off to foot and land vehicles by the flow of the deadly hot volcanic lava.

It is because of this, many Hawaiian tour agencies are offering helicopter and light plane tours for tourists to see Hawaii and view its majestic live volcanoes from the air. Hawaiian helicopter guided tours are conducted very professionally with well trained tour guides relating the history and the quirks of Hawaii in very interesting story telling narratives. Touring Hawaii and view its volcanoes by air is one of the favorite activities of tourists although it can get rather expensive if you are touring Hawaii by air as a family.

The Kilauea volcano actually looks like a bulge on the southeastern side of Mauna Loa. For many years Kilauea was thought to be a mere satellite of its giant neighbor, not as a separate volcano. However, it is now known that the Kilauea has its own magma-pumping system, extending to the surface from more than 60 km or 37 miles deep into the crust of the earth. In fact, the summit of Kilauea lies on a curving line of volcanoes which also include Kohala and Mauna Kea.

Hawaiian folklore has it that the Kilauea volcano is the home of Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess. The caldera was the site of nearly continuous volcanic activities during the 19th century and early 20th century. Since 1952 there have been about volcanic 35 eruptions have been recorded. The Kilauea volcano is amongst the world's most active volcanoes.

There are helicopter tours taking off from the helipad at the Hilo Airport and soar directly to the Kilauea's volcanic system to view the current volcanic activities and the coastal region which was devastated by previous lava flows and volcanic activities.

Along the tour your some helicopters will also soar into Kauai the Garden Isle, which is the oldest of the Hawaiian Islands. This jungle rainforest island serves as the back-drop for many Hollywood movies. The dramatic and rugged interior of the island is uninhabited, and is a landscape of pristine forests, plunging waterfalls, multi color hued rainbows and grand valleys. A helicopter tour of Kauai will also take you to Kauai's dramatic wilderness areas which us only accessible by air.

So if you want to observe Hawaii's natural beauty and active volcanoes from a bird's eye-view, do consider a Hawaiian helicopter tour.