Tour Talk, Oahu
Visitors to Oahu often spend a day in a rental car checking out the sights beyond Waikiki. If they head to the Kailua side of the island, they are likely to drive along the Pali Highway and pass the stunning Nuuanu Pali Lookout. Denise Moreland, founder of Tour Talk Hawaii Nei, wants people to take in more than a pretty view from the spot. “Do they know what they are looking at? Do they know the significance of things?” she asked.
By the time listeners of Tour Talk’s guided audio tour pull into the vista parking lot they will have learned, through a dream sequence narration by a Native Hawaiian, that warriors once jumped or were pushed over the cliffs at this major battleground site for Hawaii’s unification. In another sequence on the audio tour, a local historian narrates a 12-minute reenactment of the Pearl Harbor bombing as drivers approach the USS Arizona Memorial. Tour Talk draws upon Hawaiian authorities and musical artists to provide a background to the famous and not-so-famous sites on a circle road tour of the island.
“It’s not just a site tour. It’s a culture-based tour,” Moreland stressed.
Drivers can go at their own pace, pausing at any time during the three hours of recordings. A minimum of four hours is needed to complete the full driving tour.
Launched in 2003, the tapes have caught on. Frequent travelers who had grown weary of the “same-old same-old” now find new interest in familiar sites.
Until listening to the audio tour, “they never connected to the destination,” Moreland said.
Other feedback to Moreland has come from locals who apologized for being skeptical at first, but found, in the words of one, “I learned so much about my homeland.” Tour Talk is available in CD or cassette and includes an information-packed booklet. It retails at $24.95. Travel agent commissions are available.
Tour Talk, Oahu
808-685-0751
www.tourtalkhawaii.com
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