Features

Imagine, waking from a nights slumber (having already been awoken in the night to the call of the kiwi) to hear kaka screeching in the trees above, water cascading down a rock face just metres from your tent with a full day of adventure ahead. That is what you will get when you stop and explore Whirinaki.

Whirinaki Forest Park is a 55,000 hectare enclave of indigenous forest located south east of Rotorua which has a global ranking for its biodiversity and ecological features. It forms a unique boundary between the exotic plantations of the Kaingaroa plains and the vast wooded mountain country of Te Urewera National Park in the eastern corner of the central North Island.

Family camping at Mangamate Waterfall

Whirinaki’s most striking feature is its awe-inspiring trees, of which the totara, kahikatea, matai, miro and rimu stand supreme. It has been variously described as one of the great rainforests of the world and the finest of New Zealand’s remaining giant podocarp forests – or as David Bellamy describes it, the ‘Dinosaur Forest’. It is one of only two native forests in New Zealand where the canopy is seen in such completeness - a feature encountered nowhere else in the world.

You don’t have to be a bird lover or tree hugger to enjoy Whirinaki - it has loads of recreational opportunities for the whole family and abilities (including some purpose built facilities for wheelchairs): short day walks & multi-day tramps - both guided and unguided, hunting (some of the best wild pork in the country can be found within the park), fishing in the beautiful rivers, camping, mountain biking on some amazing single track weaving through giant trees, four-wheel driving, horse trekking and more birds, trees and waterfalls than you can photograph in a day!

2009 sees Whirinaki Forest Park reach a fantastic milestone – 25 years since the original gazetting of the park. Celebrations will focus around 4-6 September with activities to interest every member of the family from the opening of a new overnight mountain bike track to a gala dinner with ‘food from the forest’ to guided walks where you will learn about the flourishing bird and plant life of the Whirinaki.