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Banyan Tree Park

Another great (and free - which is one reason why it's great) place to visit on Maui is Banyan Tree Park in Lahaina, home of the largest Banyan tree in the world.

Although it looks like a park with a number of trees providing shade, this is actually all just one tree.


Banyan trees send out their long branches horizontally.......

.....and then send roots down from the branches to form new trunks.


This banyan tree was planted by William Owen Smith on April 24, 1873 on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the first Protestant mission in Lahaina. Only eight feet tall at the time it was planted, the banyan now reaches a height of sixty feet, has twelve separate trunks, and covers almost two-thirds of an acre.

This is a very nice shady park with benches where you can sit and enjoy the (rather expensive) ice cream you can buy in a nearby shop.
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