I had a hard time finding many recent reviews for this Epic Maui Hikes, and I would like people to know what they are signing up for. I did the "4 hour jungle Maui waterfall hike" with my partner - $200 per person. The 3 stars don't have much to do with our tour guide, but rather details that didn't go well.
I'll start with the good stuff. Our guide was friendly and personable. They were impressively nimble, strong, and knowledgeable about many plants and trees. It was their first time leading this hike, and there's room for improvement, but with a little bit of coaching, I'm sure they can grow into an even more awesome tour guide.
Nobody else happened to book the time slot with us, so we essentially got a private tour. The waterfalls we visited were stunning, and not too crowded, but not empty. It's worth noting that the trail seems like the kind of spot where you should be concerned about flash flooding, though our guide didn't mention it.
We went all the way to the last big waterfall, which was a gorgeous and thrilling journey, and wouldn't have been able to get as far as we did without our guide. There was a beautiful bamboo forest, swimming, rock climbing, rock scrambling, cliff diving - lots of memorable activities that you'd be hard-pressed to find all in one place like this.
Unfortunately, there were a few significant things that made us feel uneasy, or made us feel it wasn't worth the full cost.
1. The entrance of the trail is very clearly marked with a "no trespassing" sign (which other tourists were ignoring). A passerby in a car yelled to us out their window saying that we're trespassing. But we ignored both and entered the trail. This was an uncomfortable start to the hike because we felt like we weren't supposed to be there. Not being from the area and wanting to be a respectful tourist, I would want to understand more about the signage and the interaction. What is the contention? Should we not be hiking here? Is it private property? We couldn't have done our research ahead of time since the tour description doesn't include the trail name. I'm not sure if this company will switch up the trails over time, but we went to the Na'ili'ili Haele trail. After doing some reading online, it sounds like this trail is officially closed, but tourists and guide companies ignore the "no trespassing" signs because there are no real repercussions. Still leaves me with a weird feeling, and I'd want others to know.
2. The instructions email said to meet 15 minutes before start time, and that's when we arrived, yet our guide was about 10 minutes late and didn't give us a heads up about it. Not a professional first impression.
3. The hike is marketed as 4 hours (actually the confirmation email says 4-5), but ours barely ran 3 hours long (~2:45pm-6pm). I would have expected something at least 4 hours, since that's what we paid for.
4. Our guide either didn't know how to use a GoPro, or the one they had was broken, so we didn't get any GoPro footage as marketed. Our guide did their best to take photos using their phone, but it really isn't the same since GoPros are waterproof and phones aren't. I really wish we had just brought our own phones in waterproof cases, but we weren't given any guidance about that.
Overall, while the hike itself is certainly memorable and unique, the tour experience just didn't feel worth the full price that we paid, given that these issues are all entirely within the company's control. read more