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We named our villa Hale Nene, which means home of the nene. The nene, or Hawaiian goose, is pronounced nay-nay (making Hale Nene sound like "ha-lay nay-nay"). The nene is the rarest goose in the world, and many people who are born and raised in Hawaii have not seen one. This is partially due to the nene only living on three of Hawaii's eight islands. Nene can be found on Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai.
Thus, when we first came to our villa and saw a family of nene walking around our back lanai every day, we knew we had to name our villa Hale Nene!
Five facts at the nene:
The nene was named Hawaii's state bird in 1957.
The nene are endangered with only 2,500 in the wild today. In the mid 1900s, there were only 30 left, and they were all on the Big Island.
The nene are the only endemic goose species in Hawaii. Sadly, the other eight goose species are extinct.
The nene are believed to be descendants of Canadian geese that took a wrong turn during migration about 500,000 years ago. (best wrong turn ever!)
The nene was named after its soft call. Click here to hear the nene's call.
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