Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
was asked by Ngatoro-i-rangi why he was in such cold and barren country, to which he
replied: 'My breath
(manawa)
is my food
(kai)
.'
Europeans began exploring and surveying the area from the mid-1880s. Following in
their footsteps were goldminers who searched for gold in the rivers and streams. The ex-
ploitation continued with the burning of forest to make way for farmland, a largely unsuc-
cessful venture, after which the timber industry tried its luck. From the late 1930s to the
1970s more than 4500 hectares of red and silver beech were logged, mainly for fence posts.
That's
a lot
of fence posts.
The commercial hunting and culling of deer during the 1950s and '60s laid the foundation
of the current track system. In 1965 the
Forest Amendment Act
was passed to protect sec-
tions of forest as parks. Kaimanawa was gazetted in 1969.
Environment
Kaimanawa can be divided into two general regions. The central and southern portions of
the park are mountainous, with forested valleys, extensive scrublands and alpine grasslands.
In contrast, the area to the north and east is less rugged and almost entirely forested - mak-
ing it easier for tramping.
Most of the park is covered in beech forest, with red and silver beech dominating in the
north and east, and mountain beech in the south and interior valleys. Towards the west, in-
cluding along the Umukarikari-Urchin Circuit, podocarps (rimu, matai and totara) are en-
countered more frequently. The bushline lies between 1160m and 1370m, and marks the
point where the forest is replaced by tussock grassland and subalpine vegetation.
Sika (Japanese deer) and red deer mean hunters flock here during the roar (mating sea-
son) in late March and April. Native birds include the kereru (NZ pigeon), the rifleman, the
karearea (NZ falcon
),
fantails, bellbirds, whiteheads, fernbirds, kiwis and sometimes whio
(blue ducks).
The Kaimanawa area is known for its trout, and is one of the best spots on the North Is-
land for trampers with a rod and reel. Most rivers in the park contain trout. Some
(Rangitikei, Mohaka and Ngaruroro) have brown and rainbow trout; the Waipakihi, on the
Umukarikari-Urchin Circuit, has only rainbow trout.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Umukarikari-Urchin Circuit
