Enjoy an evening cruise followed by a two hour guided walk through coastal forest and sandy beaches with a chance to see the Southern brown kiwi (Rakiura Tokoeka) - often searching for food.
We went in January, whilst there were still an hour of day/twilight, the trip started off observing various sea and coastal birds and seals around various islands and coves with very informative commentary. During the ferry ride, we were professionally given a presentation about the kiwis and the specific subspecies on Stewart Island and how to respectfully handle ourselves in searching and observing the kiwis. The guides then professionally in both skill and equipment took us on an hike where we observed a total of 6 kiwis in clear sight within 10m. We also observed one fur seal via the thermal scope on the beach.
I was lucky enough to meet kiwis during the 2 previous nights. How disapponted must have been some of the fellow travellers they haven't seen kiwibirds at all. Yet I've enjoyed the trip very much, especially jumping of the boat on waves, spotting of sea lions, fur seals and a pinguin (yes, just one). The crew member were great and did everything possible in attempt to search for wildlife. This experience is not a zoo, so success can't be guaranteed. Thank you for the experience.
The kiwi experience was just AMAZING! Our guides Jan & Karen were awesome, they took really good care of us, gave us hot chocolate and cookies after the tour, and I really felt their energy and their knowdledge towards Kiwis. We saw, I think 5 Kiwis, the walking throught the woods was an awesome experience in the dark, we saw a lot of birds, seals and many more different kind of animals. Thank you for this amazing experience!!! <3 :)
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Lukas Doerner from Germany wrote on 05 February 2024
Awesom experience
It was really a special and unique experience. We were lucky enough to see penguins, albatrosses, see lions and also Kiwis, even though the Kiwis were hard to spot und you had little time to fully lock at him longer due to the vast number of people in your group. The crew was incredible friendly and funny aswell, big thanks to Natasha and Karen, both were amazing and filled the trip with great background and Māori story telling. The experience would have even been better if all the people in the group followed the orders to be totally quiet and not flashing around their torches.