What do you see when you look at a river, mountain or forest? A wild animal in the ocean, the bush or the sky? Do you want to own them, tame them or subdue them? Or do you instead see spirits similar to yours who need your tutelage and respect?
If you view humans as protectors rather than owners of our planet, then a trip to Aotearoa – the land of the long white cloud, better known as New Zealand – should be at the top of your list.
This is where visitors discover that te ao Māori (the Māori world) is based on kaitiakitangaa beautiful concept that expresses a deep connection with nature: so much so that New Zealand was one of the first countries to grant natural entities such as forests and rivers environmental personality, giving them the same right to be protected from harm as humans.
While kaitiakitanga was for centuries a relationship that seemed to be cherished only by the indigenous people of the two islands, but is now an integral part of the Kiwi mentality – and something that greatly enriches tourism.
“It’s embedded in the Kiwi way of life,” says Riwai Grace, who, with his wife Cate, runs Christchurch-based Amiki (amikitours.com), a cultural and gastronomic walking tour company. “The universal hello is ‘kia ora‘. We all say it, regardless of our background, but my roots are Māori, so I’d also like to invite people to join me in a Hongi. Would you like that?”
I did so, if only to amuse passersby who had stopped to see how barely six feet tall I would manage to touch my forehead and rub noses with the six-foot tank-of-a- man Riwai in the traditional Māori greeting. “Our breaths have mingled and our spirits united,” he said after unfolding himself again into a standing giant. “You are no longer one manuhiri – a visitor – but part of our community.” The experience was surprisingly moving and the intimacy it required wasn’t awkward at all. I felt like it had given me a deeper level of connection than a handshake would have.
Riwai wove Māori folklore and history into his story as he took us to some of his favorite diners and bars. Contrary to my own rewriting of history – at least as fanciful as the Māori legends, which say that Te Ika-aMāui (North Island) was created by the Polynesian demigod Māui from a fish taken from the sea, and Te Waipounamu (South Island) from his canoe – Māori did not inhabit Aotearoa for millennia, but not until sometime between the 13th century.e and 14e centuries.
Previously, the islands belonged to nature, the lush forests were a refuge for invertebrates, reptiles and birds. New Zealand remains very green – almost 31 percent is forested, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization – but the tampering hand of our own species has caused destruction.
The newly arrived people from Polynesia were not yet aware of this kaitiakitanga meant leaving well alone, consumed all the gigantic, flightless moa birds. When these were gone, so too did their main predator, the hogioi or Haast’s eagle – the largest eagle our planet has ever seen. In addition, the rats they brought in for food ate snipe rails, flightless nightjars, and a large number of native frogs and small petrels, causing them to become extinct.
Such interference only produced more of the same. For centuries, the unenlightened British government took nature down a path that was the opposite of it kaitiakitanga. Like the cautionary tale of the old woman who swallowed a fly, humans introduced one invasive species after another, either for food or to right the wrongs of their previous encroachments on nature.
All that is now a thing of the past, says Riwai, as the country stands united in its efforts to rid itself of floral and wildlife pests and to revive, protect and celebrate its native species. In one evening I consumed 600 years of history and many times as many calories. After Christchurch served as a starter, I drove 180 km (112 miles) along the coast to Kaikōura to enjoy nature.
The best of what is New Zealand begins and ends outside: the island’s natural splendor is astonishing, so much so that my head pinged from side to side during that drive to take in the mountain and sea views , of foaming, crashing waves and the silence of the rocky peaks. Sea, mountains, blue, green, movement, immutability. All at once.
When I arrived in Kaikónura, all I could see from my window at the Sudima Hotel (rooms from £108; sudimahotels.com) was the ocean – but the next day a new world yawned and stretched before me. The mist had lifted, revealing a vision of perfect, elemental beauty: the snow-capped peaks of the Southern Alps stood against the infinity of a cloudless sky.
Seen from the ground and from afar, the mountains had a magnetic pull. Seen from above, from the bubble of a helicopter, their power was monumental. Dan Stevenson, the owner of South Pacific Helicopters (three-hour tours from £893 per person; southpacifichelicopters.co.nz), had taken us on a whale-watching flight. There were none to be seen that day, so to compensate he took us on a breathtaking flight over the Seaward Kaikûura Range – not that we needed to as we were thrilled by pods of dolphins.
As the ground collapsed into ravines that resembled broken veins and gray-green-brown impressionism, our excellent guide Lisa Bond, from Destination Kaikōura, took us on a different, but equally fascinating flight.
Lisa told us about the heroic efforts to save the endangered Hutton’s shearwater – the highest breeding seabird in the world – whose two remaining breeding colonies were somewhere in the tussock-covered escarpments below. She told us about the giant sperm whales, the humpback whales, the southern right whales and the pilot whales, and tantalized us with the possibility that there might even be orcas lurking just beneath the surface of the ocean we had scanned half an hour earlier. She also made a beautiful statement in Māori myths: ‘Legend has it that Tohorā, the whale, saved ancestor Paikea, who came from the Pacific Islands, from drowning, by carrying him on his back to Aotearoa. His descendants include the Ngāti Kuri people of Kaikóura.”
Lisa explained that the story emphasizes the spiritual bonds that exist between the city, its people and nature, and that nothing can exist without the other. “We urge our visitors to accept the message from one of us karakias (incantations or blessings) to heart: ‘te mauri ora ki te katoa, haumi e, hui e, tāiki e‘, which translates as a wish to be united, connected and blessed. These three words are the paths we must walk in life.”
My experiences had taken me from Christchurch to Kaikónura by road; I had flown over the mountains in a helicopter and traveled from Kaikōura to Blenheim on the Coastal Pacific Train (greatjourneysnz.com) – a spectacular journey that at times hugged the coastline so tightly that I felt as if we were trespassing on the coast. water any time – but still had to enjoy a sea adventure. I booked a bespoke tour with Wine, Art and Wilderness to rectify that (guided day experience from £290pp; wineartandwilderness.co.nz). Owner Zane Kennedy should have come up with something spectacular to lure me away from my accommodation, Maruia River Retreat, near Murchison (doubles from £1,207 for two nights; maruia.co.nz) – a series of villas deep in a beech forest divided by a fast-flowing river whose own music was the perfect accompaniment for the korimako, kākāriki And tūī that fluttered, flew, soared and flew above – and his plan was waka and wine.
The wine was provided by some of Nelson’s best boutique vineyards, including the smallest: the family-owned Riwaka, run by Amber and Paul Mackenzie. “We make four wines and one olive oil, and everything we do is underpinned by the relationship between us and raw nature. Our products are the expression of the place, of the earth, of the weather – of tūrangawaewae.” The literal translation of this is as a place to stand, but, Amber explains, the meaning is actually more nuanced. “It involves a sense of connection to the land, to our community, to the scheme of things. It’s about being rooted in our ancestral heritage, and in this soil.”
Tradition and connection with nature, with the past, with the future, with strangers bonding over a shared experience for that one hour or more, was also at the heart of my next adventure, canoeing with Waka Abel Tasman (group paddling of two o’clock). from £50pp; wakaabeltasman.nz). Before the paddle, Thomas Moetu, our instructor for the day, took us through our training – how to hold the oar, how to steer – and then asked us to join him in a karakia to ask the ancestors for protection.
I waded into the sea with my group and gracefully clambered onto the double-sided waka. Thomas sat in the back and told us about the importance of preserving Māori culture, about the history of the waka, and how it had brought people to Aotearoa all those centuries ago. It was, he said, a vehicle for travel and commerce; for bringing the islands and their products to the world, and for building relationships with other nations. “The waka Our tours allow our guests to share and preserve an important aspect of our heritage. While they synchronize their paddles to sail safely through their haerenga [journey]we hope they will appreciate the values of working together to achieve a common goal. Every action, every deed relates to nourishing our social networks.”
At regular intervals Thomas blew into the pūmoana, or conch shell, which emitted a primitive, guttural sound that resounded throughout the waka. His voice came from the depths of the ocean, from a bygone era, from a sea creature that had evolved hundreds of millions of years before us. I said the words Lisa had taught me. Haumi e, hui e, taiki e – I couldn’t wish for anything more than to be united, connected and blessed.
Essentials
Xenia Taliotis was a guest of Tourism New Zealand (tourismnewzealand.com).
Qatar Airways (qatarairways.com) flies from London Heathrow to Auckland from £1,157 return.