Nature / Sustainable Tourism

The eventual return of New Zealand native tuatara to wild habitat in the South Island has been brought a step closer with the arrival of 15 of the baby reptiles at Orokonui Ecosanctuary near Dunedin.

The chance to see kiwi in their native surroundings has become a new attraction for tourists to Auckland with the release of 15 little spotted kiwi on to Motuihe Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

A baby tuatara discovered at a wildlife sanctuary in Wellington is the first confirmed wild tuatara hatchling on New Zealand’s mainland in at least 200 years.

Scientists surveying ‘china shops’ - or untouched underwater areas - of Fiordland, New Zealand are excited by the discovery of some new and fragile species they believe will add strength to the area being recognised as a world heritage park.

An evocative New Zealand country setting with rustic shed, bush, stream and a strong conservation theme has taken the supreme award at the country’s premier garden show.

New Zealand’s conservation campaign to save the kakapo – the world’s rarest parrot – has reached a new milestone with confirmation that the population of threatened birds has cracked through the 100 mark.

New Zealand’s iconic Milford Sound is now third in the global race to find the world’s ‘Seven Wonders of Nature’ - thanks to enthusiastic on-line voters.

The Southern Hemisphere’s largest garden show, the 2009 Ellerslie International Flower Show, opens its gates next week (11.03.09) at a new home in the South Island city of Christchurch.

It’s not exactly a population explosion, but two newly hatched kakapo chicks on a remote New Zealand island are another small step in the recovery programme for one of the world’s most endangered birds.

New Zealand’s bid to have a World Heritage Starlight Reserve in the sky above Lake Tekapo and Aoraki Mount Cook, in the South Island’s Mackenzie Country, has moved a step closer.