Did you know that horseshoe crabs are unable to eat unless they are walking? Or that a multi-day battle was fought during the Civil War near the Island’ s roundabout entrance? If you didn’ t, you would be similar to many longtime residents and visitors to Kiawah. To enable participants to acquire a broader understanding of Kiawah’ s natural beauty and history, the Kiawah Conservancy has developed a series of self-guided biking and walking tours of our home island.
The program, hosted by the TravelStorysGPS application and titled Naturally Kiawah Pathways, presently includes seven tours. The application is free and can easily be downloaded to most smart phones or mobile devices. Four of the tours are geographically based( western, central, and eastern Kiawah and The Preserve) and three are focused on our wildlife neighbors( Treasures of the Beach; Kiawah’ s Ponds; and Capturing the Beauty of Kiawah). Each includes 10 – 12 locations where something special about Kiawah is revealed. When you arrive at a location, a GPS-activated commentary will automatically start up, or you activate an icon about a particular subject( for example, our friend the horseshoe crab). Each tour can be completed in 60 – 90 minutes or undertaken in smaller portions.
This spring Kiawah property owners were sent a brochure that describes the program in more detail. The brochure includes a color-coded map of all the tours, a description of the locations comprising each tour, and the background of the program. Additional copies are available at the Conservancy office. If you would like additional copies for family or friends, please contact the Conservancy at( 843) 768-2029 or jennifer @ kiawahconservancy. org during weekday business hours.
Here are some of the enthusiastic reactions from participants thus far:“ I described the application to someone I met biking and they asked for the download instructions that very minute.”“ Even if I had never left my house, these tours would have deepened my love for this beautiful place.” So kick your bike tires( or those of your family and friends) and be part of one the coolest new experiences on Kiawah. To take a tour, visit the App Store or Google Play and download the free TravelStoriesGPS application. Open the App and choose one of the seven Naturally Kiawah Pathways tours available. Make sure your device’ s volume is on and turned up. The audio tour will automatically play as you approach each point of interest in the tour you selected. For help press the settings icon.
We hope you will enjoy the App, recommend it to your family and friends and share your experiences, photographs, and stories with us. We look forward to seeing you on Kiawah’ s pathways! NK
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