New Zealand's Orokonui Ecosanctuary: A Haven for Native Birdlife

If there was ever a case of the weather being for the birds, this has to be it, as a moody mist mingled with a hint of drizzle resolutely vapes its path through a damp and dark cloud forest that’s home to an open air anthology of Aotearoa avian life.

Inside Orokonui, a Maori name which roughly translates as “healthy place”, I’m striding along a section of more than 10 kilometres of the gravel and grass track that traces its way through the sanctuary. Instead, what we have before us is a kaka, a more svelte though still sizable parrot identifiable by olive-brown colouring and hooked bill.

There’s the promise here of regularly replenished, strategically located, feeder stations providing water and seed, positioned a suitably discreet but visible distance from human visitors.Yet not even all those attractions are enough to entice Orokonui’s rare Haast tokoeka – subspecies of the southern brown kiwi – into the open during my visit.

Towards the end of the tour, we emerge from forest into grasslands, making our way back to the sanctuary’s architecturally striking visitor centre with its thrusting beak-like roof.

New Zealand Orokonui Ecosanctuary Birdlife Predator-Proof Fencing Native Species Invasive Species Eco-Sanctuaries

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