Nature shaped the peninsula into a natural prison without chances for an escape. The original colony was located in Kalawao on the west side of the peninsula. This is where the ships with infected people arrived, unloaded patients and left them to care for themselves. The east side colony in Kalaupapa was created later. Today only the Kalaupapa side is still populated. With the exception of the churches, Kalawao does not exist anymore.

Even nowadays it is difficult to access the peninsula from Molokai's uplands. One famous way to see the colony is a strenuous Mule Ride, which takes visitors on an approx. 1700'/518m descent along a narrow path with 26 turns. This is not the original path which was used on the west side in the time of Father Damien and R. W. Meyer, who owned the uplands over the peninsula. The east path to Kalaupapa was hand carved 1907 by a Portuguese immigrant Manuel Farinha who hung from ropes to complete the task.

The Mule Ride is a very individual experience, which most of us will never forget. Especially the non-riders... The path is narrow and some of the mules tend to walk on its very edge. My mule named Koa used to make sudden movements and liked to turn so late that I thought a few times, now we are going over the cliff... Not so, stay calm! A good advise given to us was: "Trust your mule, it does it twice a day, 6 times a week and it will also return home."

Once arriving on the beach of Kalaupapa, mules stay in a corral and a bus takes visitors to selected stops in Kalaupapa. From there a ride across the peninsula leads to Kalawao, where are the famous St. Philomena Church and Father Damien's original resting place. In Kalawao tour guide serves a lunch to visitors, what concludes the visit. After the return to the corral, visitors rejoin their mules. The climb to uplands of Molokai appears much easier, however the mules work visibly hard and break sweat.