Okarito Lagoon

Okarito is about three thousand hectares of tidal lagoon, channel and swamp forest behind a dune coast, and it is the largest unmodified wetland of its kind left in New Zealand - the reason it holds so many birds. The best known is kotuku, the white heron, which breeds at a single colony in the country, on the Waitangiroto River just north of the lagoon; the colony is reached only by a licensed operator's boat between roughly November and February, and there are usually only a couple of hundred birds nationally. Royal spoonbill nest alongside them. The lagoon itself is paddled by kayak on the tidal channels among white pine and kahikatea forest, with the Alps behind on a clear morning. Okarito village is tiny - a few dozen houses, no shop and one cafe. The Okarito Trig walk gives the overview and the three-hour Coastal Pack Track runs north.

History

Māori occupation and seasonal harvesting began here over 600 years ago, and Kāti Māhaki ki Makaawhio gathered food and worked pounamu at the lagoon. In the gold rush of the 1860s Ōkārito grew to several thousand people with 31 hotels and three banks, its port the third busiest on the West Coast, and part of the old wharf and its shed, rebuilt in 1960, still stand (Wikipedia, Ōkārito Lagoon).

What you'll find

• Kotuku - the country's only white heron colony, in season.
• The tidal channels - kayaked among kahikatea and white pine.
• The Alps behind - Aoraki and Tasman on a still clear morning.
• The trig walk - the overview of lagoon, coast and mountains.

When to go

November to February for the heron colony, which is the only window. Kayaking works October to April, at dawn for calm water and reflections.

What to expect

The heron colony can only be visited with the licensed operator - there is no independent access. Okarito has no shop. Sandflies are severe. Weather closes in fast and the Alps view is often hidden.

Nearby

Franz Josef is inland; Lake Mapourika is on the way in.

Key facts