Mākaha is a census-designated place in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. It’s a town located along the Pacific Ocean, west of the Mākaha Valley, and at the foot of Mt. Ka'ala in the Wai’anae Mountain Range. It is the last of the leeward towns on O'ahu. North of Mākaha is little development, i.e. no towns, no gas stations, or restaurants. The population of Mākaha was 8,278 at the 2010 census. It is located 35 miles northwest of Honolulu, but is a part of Honolulu County.In Hawaiian language its name means “fierce” or “savage”, which refers to the group of bandits who were based in the Mākaha Valley. They would hide and wait for unsuspecting passerby's to show up, and then plunder and pillage them. Mākaha has a higher percentage of Native Hawaiians and other pacific islanders than most settlements on O’ahu, 26.2% of the population were pacific islanders in 2010. Mākaha Resort stages weekend traditional Hawaiian arts and crafts fairs and other Hawaiian cultural programs in order to preserve the Native Hawaiian traditions in Mākaha.