Above the town of Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, the rain falls on a forest that has barely changed in a long time. The Ola'a Forest Tract is a patch of native rainforest on the flank of Kilauea, part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which together with the volcanoes Mauna Loa and Kilauea is a World Heritage site, inscribed in 1987. It sits at around 1,200 metres, where clouds drift in each afternoon, and the trees drip with moisture. The canopy is made of ohia lehua, a tree with brilliant red pom-pom flowers, and beneath it grow giant tree ferns called hapuu, with fronds that unfurl like croziers, and a thick understorey of native shrubs, mosses and orchids.
The forest is one of the best places in the islands to hear native birds. The apapane, a bright red honeycreeper, flits among the lehua blossoms, the iiwi, with its curved salmon-coloured bill, is sometimes seen, and in the early morning the forest fills with song. Many of the plants and birds found here live nowhere else on Earth, since Hawaii's isolation has produced species found nowhere else. Sadly, a fungal disease called rapid ohia death has killed many trees on the island, so visitors are asked to clean their boots and tyres before moving between forests.
The volcano road is a classic Hawaiian ride. Highway 11 climbs from Hilo through lush tropical forest up to Volcano, with the smell of wet earth and flowers, and Crater Rim Drive runs around the summit caldera of Kilauea with steaming vents and views over black lava fields. Parts of the park's roads have been closed after damage from earthquakes and eruptions, so check the park's website for current conditions. Rain is frequent at this altitude, so a waterproof layer is essential, and the roads are slick when wet. The temperature can be cool, and the early morning is often misty.
Volcano village has about twenty-five hundred people with a few shops and guesthouses, and for fuel and supplies you can go down to Mountain View or Hilo. The Hawaiian goose, the nene, grazes along the road, so watch for it, and keep your speed down.