ISLAND LIFE Kāpiti Island is a nature reserve like no

from Air Chats Spring 2022

by Air Chathams

ECHOES OF THE PAST

A serene nature reserve and pest free bird sanctuary

just 5km off the Kāpiti Coast

Island Life

Images Kāpiti Island Nature Tours

Kāpiti Island is not just one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s oldest and most important nature reserves, it is also a place rich in human history - and the whanau at Waiorua Bay to the north of the island, whose ancestors arrived there with Te Rauparaha in the 1820s, have been helping Kiwis explore this stunning slice of paradise for generations.

It’s hard to believe when visiting Kāpiti Island today, a serene nature reserve and pest free bird sanctuary just 5km off the Kāpiti Coast, that at many times throughout history it has been a hustling, bustling hive of activity. People have lived there for over 800 years, and from the 1830s to the 1860s Te Rauparaha encouraged European ships to land there as it became a centre for flax trade. Captain James Cook named Kāpiti ‘Entry Island’ because of its proximity to Cook Strait, and the commercial whalers arrived in the early 1800s, establishing a settlement of some 2000 people, including Australian and American crews using long boats launched from the Islands shores to hunt for Humpback and Southern Right whales. They processed the meat in large ‘blubber pots’, some of which still remain on the Island.

During the 1850s much of the land was cleared for farming, and sheep, goats, pigs, deer, cats, and dogs were introduced. Whale numbers declined precipitously, and not long after that the island was given over to farming.

Auckland

Kāpiti Coast

By the late 1800’s naturalists, concerned about declining native bird species due to introduced pests such as stoats, identified Kāpiti Island as a future nature reserve, and kiwi were translocated to the island from 1890. In 1897 New Zealand’s Prime Minister Richard Seddon introduced a bill to Parliament in order to acquire Kāpiti Island ‘to conserve the flora and fauna of the Island’. Had it not been for this early protection and the translocations to Kāpiti Island, it is likely that the little spotted kiwi may have become extinct.

Of a total of 1965 hectares, local tangata whenua together kept just 13 hectares around Waiorua Bay - largely thanks to the formidable efforts of family matriarch, Utauta Parata - and this is where the Barrett family lodge is located today, forming the focus for Kāpiti Island Nature Tours.

“Kāpiti Island is like an amazing microcosm of Aotearoa’s history right in one little place,” says Danielle Barrett of Kāpiti Island Nature Tours, “there is Māori history going right back to the beginning of human life in Aotearoa, then the first encounters with Europeans and the whole environmental journey of New Zealand, from whaling to farming and battles in between. So in many ways a trip around Kāpiti Island is a glimpse into the history of the whole country.”

“We often hear from people that they have been looking out at the Island or driving past it for years and have always meant to get across to it and see what it is really all about, but there are some great walking tracks that are not too difficult and of course the amazing flora and fauna.”

It really is a nature lovers dream come true

As a result of years of conservation efforts Kāpiti Island is blessed with an abundance of native and endangered species. These include takahe, North Island kōkako, brown teal, stitchbird (hihi), North Island saddleback (tieke), tomtit (miromiro), fantail (piwakawaka), morepork (ruru), weka and North Island robin (toutouwai). Brown and little spotted kiwi were released on the island between 1890 and 1910, and it is now a stronghold for the latter of these. Following a successful pest eradication programme in the 1980’s (the world’s largest at the time) Kāpiti Island is now one of the nation’s most important sites for bird recovery. It is also home to thriving populations of red-fronted parakeets, North Island robins, bellbirds, and saddlebacks and is a major breeding site for seabirds. In April 2005, the critically endangered short-tailed bat was introduced to the island from a threatened population in the Tararuas, offering this species a separate, safer habitat. Add geckos, penguins and seals into the mix and it really is a nature lovers dream come true.

The Island’s walks are sublime, with the constant soundtrack of birdsong: try the Wilkinson Track that takes you along the coastline, through a wetland with a boardwalk, and uphill to the island’s summit Tuteremoana for spectacular views; or for a more gentle option explore the coastal walk at Waiorua Bay.