Lake Manapouri

Manapouri is deep - its floor lies well below sea level - and irregular, with several arms reaching into the mountains and thirty-three islands, twenty-two of them wooded. In 1970 a petition against a plan to raise the lake by up to thirty metres for the Manapouri power scheme was signed by 264,907 people, almost a tenth of the population; the lake was not raised, and the campaign is usually treated as the start of the modern conservation movement here. The power station was built underground instead. Boats cross to West Arm for Doubtful Sound trips and to the Kepler and Dusky track ends. Sandflies at the shore are severe.

The landscape

• The drowned arms - valleys flooded into a many-fingered lake.
• The islands - thirty-three of them, twenty-two wooded.
• The West Arm crossing - the boat route toward Doubtful Sound.
• The underground power station - the compromise that saved the level.

When to go

October to April. Boat trips to Doubtful Sound run year round but are weather-dependent. Still mornings give the reflections.

Good to know

Sandflies here are severe and constant. The village is tiny with minimal services. Doubtful Sound trips are long days and expensive. The lake is cold and deep - swimming is uncommon.

Nearby

Te Anau is north; Doubtful Sound is reached across the lake and over Wilmot Pass.

Key facts