The tour is run by Mauka Makai Adventures, and our guide was Josh, who owns it with his wife.
Josh picked us up at our hotel at the arranged time and we were immediately off to Rainbow Falls. Josh proved to be a knowledgeable and personable guide, providing a lot of local and historical information about what we were visiting or the areas we were passing through.
We were able to update the tour on the fly to skip a destination we were not interested in, and to delay another, which ended up a very good idea since we got to see Volcanoes before it started to rain. Josh never hurried us along allowing us to visit all the attractions for as long as we wanted

Josh, as a native Hawaiian islander, provided extensive history and insight on all of the areas we explored as well as the Hawaiian culture. We will certainly tour with him on our next visit!

My partner and I booked a tour with Mauka Makai tour named Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Big Island Highlights Small Group Tour through Viator. The entire experience was excellent! They offered very personalised service from confirmation of booking through hotel drop-off. Joshua our guide was very nice and knowledgeable. Being a native born Hawaiian, he offered very unique insight throughout the entirety of the tour. Josh allowed us to personalise the tour based on our interests i.e., seeing more of the volcanoes. He also offered to stop at anytime along the journey for us to take pictures which we took advantage of. Furthermore, we were staying near Kona and our guide made the trek out from near Hilo to pick us up and drop us off at our hotel. I definitely recommend this tour for anyone visiting the Big Island for the first time or someone who is familiar with the Big Island and is looking to learn new things.

Josh was a great source of info on history, customs, legends as well as the highlights of the national park sites. He always had a little extra to add whether it was about the local flora or where to get great chocolate.

This tour was great! Our tour guide, Josh of Mauka Makai Adventures is very knowledgeable and very nice and accommodating. He was flexible enough to adjust the pace and itinerary of our tour based on our interest and energy. It was like we had our very own private tour of the island. Thanks Josh!

Our tour guide, Jill, was knowledgeable, friendly and enthusiastic to teach us about Hilo and the surrounding area. As a native of the area she knew the area in detail. We saw black sand beaches, volcanoes and lava flows. We visited a coffee plantation, and the macadamia nut factory. Along the way we stopped for a picnic lunch. During the drive Jill talked about the plants we saw. She taught us about the culture and shared some of the mythology of the islands.

We had a brilliant day, lasting about 9 hours. Josh was very knowledgable and friendly. He picked us up from Kona and took us for local pizza at our request and showed us round all the sites we wanted to go to as well as giviing us ideas for other places to visit during the rest of our stay. The views were stunning and we would highly recommend this tour as he tailors it to what you want to see in a private car, rather than a crowded bus where you only have a certain amount of time allocated to each stop which made the day really relaxing.

We had a great tour despite that it was raining most of the time. Tour guide was very nice, n attentive. She even took us to a local restaurant for dinner, not a tourist spot.

It was great! Our tour guide was a native and knew so much about the history, plantlife, and the ocean sealife. It was a last minute decision and it worked out perfectly. The reservation could not be confirmed right away so you stayed involved until we had confirmation. Thanks

EXCELLENT!!! As this tour group was new to Viator, I was a little nervous but took a chance. I'm so very glad I did. I received a confirmation call from Jill the day after I booked. Josh picked us up right on time from our hotel in Kona in the tour van. We were able to customize the trip to our liking and Josh was extremely informative. Josh was also very accommodating as one of our group was limited in their walking ability. Because of Josh's familiarity with the area, we were able to avoid the larger crowds which made the trip extremely enjoyable. Our tour was approximately 11 hours and we were able to see everything on the group wish list. Josh provided umbrellas and ponchos as needed along with a water and snacks. We were able to adjust stops to take photos and breaks. I would, without hesitation, recommend the local tour company to anyone that wishes to view the wonders of the Big Island. I will definitely use them on my next Kona trip. Thank you Jill and Josh for the professional services, friendly and informative trip and the perfect means to view the many beautiful sites of Hawaii. Mahalo!