Native Affairs spent two days on Rakiura, Stewart Island, to witness the handover of one of the world's most unique birdlife tourism businesses to a Māori Trust.
The Rakiura Māori Lands Trust and Real Journeys took on a legacy business started by local Māori man Phillip Smith more than twenty years ago. Under Phillip's guidance, our film crew got up close and personal with Aotearoa's national bird, the very impressive Rakiura Kiwi.
While just 400 people call Rakiura home, it’s also home to 21,000 Kiwi.
The Kiwi and other native birdlife on Rakiura thrive because of the protected park area of Rakiura National Park, which makes up 85% of the island.
For 26 years, 73-year old Phillip Smith has been running the world famous ‘Brown Kiwi Spotting Experience’. But Phillip recently retired and sold his unique business to the Rakiura Māori Lands Trust and Real Journeys.
Phillip, who is a born and bred Stewart Islander of Ngāti Mamoe descent, says “We are very fortunate. We are told this is the last remaining natural forest in the whole of NZ where they are not endangered.”
“I don't think people realise how special it is to see them naturally in their own environment,” he says.
Simon Gomez, Chairperson of Rakiura Māori Lands Trust, says “It's the only place that I’m aware of in NZ where people can see Kiwis up close in their natural habitat.”
Just 2,000 New Zealanders visit Rakiura every year but 30,000 foreigners make the long journey there, including world famous naturalist David Attenborough.
Phillip says, rather than walk, Attenborough “was on his hands and knees and he actually crawled right up to the bird.”
He says, “We took him to film Weka on Ulva [Island in Rakiura] and they were following him around. They were too close for the camera. It was almost like the birds wanted to be with him and the same with the Kiwis.”
Asked what is it about the Kiwi that people find so fascinating, Phillip says, “I think it's probably the environment that they are in. Walking the track at night, finding them in the bush is quite unique. But there is very few places that you will see them on an open sandy beach under the stars at night, feeding amongst the little sand-hoppers amongst the seaweed on the beach,” he says.
Phillip says the Brown Kiwi found on Rakiura are astonishing to see.
“These are the largest of the NZ Brown Kiwi. They are a massive bird when you see them. An adult female, she is a lot bigger than the Mainland Browns. You can read all the taxonomy about the Kiwi and you’ll read that they are. They are a bigger bird, longer beak,” says Phillip.
He is quick to point out the important role Rakiura is playing in the preservation of Kiwi in Aotearoa.
Phillip says, “Currently we are told that total population estimated of Kiwi throughout NZ is about 70,000. [In] mainland natural forest, they are declining quite rapidly through predation with those introduced pests. Apart from preserves, reserves and predator-free islands they are struggling for existence on the mainland.”
However, he says, “What they tell us, out of that 70 odd thousand, they estimate about 30% of that are on Rakiura.”
Simon Gomez of Rakiura Māori Lands Trust says they will work to uphold Phillip's legacy to sustainably manage the Kiwi tours by “looking after, first of all, the whenua, the birds - in this case the Kiwis - and last comes the people coming to look at them.”
He adds, “And we make sure that what we have is going to be passed onto future generations so that they do the same as we do.”
Although Phillip has retired, he will continue to advise the Trust as they take over the business.
Asked what advice he has for the Trust and Real Journeys in taking over this taonga, Phillip says “No.1 look after the birds, no.2 the track because that it is their home and then the people.”
But, most important of all, he says “Look after the birds, they will always be there.”