Hawaii Volcanoes

Declared in 1916, one of the oldest parks in the United States, it protects two of the most active and most studied volcanoes on the planet: Kīlauea, in near-continuous eruption since 1983 with some very active recent episodes, and Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano on Earth by volume. In Hawaiian culture, Kīlauea's Halemaʻumaʻu crater is held to be the home of Pele, goddess of fire and volcanoes, and traditional offerings are still made at its rim. The park is also home to the nēnē or Hawaiian goose, the state bird, which came to the brink of extinction with fewer than 30 birds left in the 1950s and survives today thanks to captive breeding programmes.