Niihau Island

Hawaiian "Forbidden Island" - where "time has stood still". One of only three places in the world where technology has not yet moved in, Niihau Island (if you pronounce it "Nee-ee-how" you'll be pretty close) is a 72 square mile privately owned island just southwest of the island of Kauai. Purchased from King Kamehameha in 1864, this island has preserved many of the traditional ways of life, including the Hawaiian language, and is inhabited by about 200 locals whose primary language is Hawaiian.

Niihau Island is located 18 miles from the island of Kauai across the often-times rough Kaulakahi Channel. The oldest of the inhabited Hawaiian islands, Niihau is also the least changed by modern progress. The Niihauans fish and hunt for their main staples of food, with their diet supplemented by supplies brought in by air and sea by the owners of the island. The residents of Niihau still hunt with ropes and knives and fish with spears and nets.