About | Te Matua Ngahere Walk (Waipoua Forest)
The Te Matua Ngahere Walk takes you through an ancient kauri forest to the “Father of the Forest” which is estimated to be more than 2,000 years old, making it the oldest living kauri tree. The tree was first discovered by Nicholas Yakas in 1928 while he was working on the road that is now SH12. There are two other tracks that start at the same point – Four Sisters and the Yakas Walk.
The Te Matua Ngahere Walk starts off wide and you’ll see a few big kauri trees along the way. Getting deeper into the forest the path narrows and you seem more immersed in nature. Kauri trees start appearing everywhere until you end up at Te Matua Ngahere – the oldest kauri.
The trees Maori name, Te Matua Ngahere, means “Father of the Forest”. Though not as tall as Tane Mahuta, it has a larger girth of 16 metres. It is nearly 30 metres high.
Before and after entering a kauri forest please use the cleaning stations to protect the trees from kauri dieback.
20min one way
Nearby
Tane Mahuta
Trounson Kauri Park
Opononi Sand Dunes
Location
Photos
We really enjoyed this track, walking through an ancient kauri forest is something that will always amaze me.
We loved how close we could get to these trees while also keeping them safe.
And then Te Matau Ngahere appeared in all of it’s glory. What a beast!
