A forlorn scrap of white mist hovered in the bush flanking the only road into Te Urewera, one of the most isolated rainforests in New Zealand. It was a sign I was in Tūhoe country, the tribal region whose people were named “Children of the Mist” by ethnographer Elsdon Best in the 1890s due to an ancient oral tradition linking Tūhoe to Hine-pūkohu-rangi, the mist maiden.
Outside my window, views of pasture and rundown farmhouses gave way to dense emerald forest and waterfalls gushing from cliffs cloaked in cloud and shadow. Turning a bend in the road, two stocky ponies with unkempt forelocks appeared on the dusty verge in front of me. Slowing down, I scanned the bush for kererū, the native wood pigeon long associated with this fertile landscape, and instead locked eyes with a lone palomino chewing on ferns as the asphalt road turned to earth.
Te Urewera is the largest rainforest of New Zealand’s North Island, spanning 2,127 sq km of rugged hill country, vast blue-green lakes and fast-running, north-flowing rivers. In 2014, a world-first law brought an end to government ownership of Te Urewera National Park and recognised the rainforest as its own legal entity and the Tūhoe people as its legal guardians.
Today, the Tūhoe – who number approximately 40,000, with around 7,000 living in Te Urewera’s river valleys and bush clearings – are legally responsible for the rainforest’s care. They protect the precious site through an ancient Maori practice known as kaitiakitanga, which can roughly be translated to mean “guardianship” and is a way of managing the environment based on a Māori worldview.
Baca Juga : Berkunjung Ke Malaysia, 5 Tempat Keren Serasa Keliling Dunia Loh!
Kaitiakitanga involves understanding the close connection between people and nature, seeing humans as part of the natural world and protecting the mauri, or life force, of the forests, rivers and lakes under their care. On a day-to-day level, it includes monitoring the health of the forest, lakes and rivers through observation and data collection, native tree planting, controlling pests such as possums and deer and maintaining the health of important fish stocks such as river tuna (Māori for eels).
Tribal leader Tamati Kruger told me that increasing numbers of people are coming to Te Urewera to hunt, fish and hike around its most popular lake, Lake Waikaremoana. Although the Tūhoe welcome visitors, the challenge, he said, is to manage tourist numbers and the impact of tourism on the environment, while taking over the care of the former national park after nearly 70 years of government management.
“For many visitors to Te Urewera, a national park system is all they know,” Kruger said. “They have this idea that you save up for a holiday in a beautiful part of the world, you go there, pay for a service such as access to a night in a clean, dry hut, and then you return home and plan your next trip to the next destination. For many people, that’s the extent of their experience of travelling in nature.
“We’re asking people to completely change that approach. Instead of seeing nature as a set of discrete resources to be managed and used, we’re asking people to see Te Urewera as a living system that others depend on for survival, culture, recreation and inspiration. It’s about relating to Te Urewera as its own identity in a physical, environmental, cultural and spiritual sense.”
As kaitiaki (guardians), this is how the Tūhoe have always experienced Te Urewera, Kruger said, and that visitors need to be prepared to do things differently here. “Maybe it’s not about getting the best photo of yourself near a waterfall or the ultimate deal on a hunting trip. Maybe it’s about meeting the locals, staying with us, learning some of our history and hearing some of the stories and values that make up our lifestyle.”
With Te Urewera now reopened to domestic travellers post-lockdown, tourism guides throughout the rainforest increasingly offer an opportunity to do just that. In Tāneatua, at the Tūhoe’s tribal headquarters located at the northern entrance of Te Urewera, visitors can take a self-guided walking tour of the site for an overview of the tribe’s history, culture and an introduction to its environmental approach.
Within the rainforest itself, staying on marae (traditional Māori meeting grounds) and experiencing a traditional settling-in ceremony, or taking a bush walk with Tūhoe guides who understand local tīkanga (protocols) are other ways outsiders can immerse themselves in Tūhoe culture and learn how to relate to Te Urewera in a different way. More options include
