Stewart Island is New Zealand’s best spot to see kiwis in the wild

I did Real NZ’s Stewart Island Wild Kiwi Encounter and saw more of the tiny creatures than most New Zealanders will in a lifetime.

I’ve never been so acutely aware of how much noise I make when I’m walking. 

Every footstep and rustle of fabric seems to reverberate through the surrounding rainforest. A single torch that transforms the dense vegetation into an indecipherable jumble of shadows only heightens the tension. Suddenly, the leader of our group stops. Then a blurry shape tears through the undergrowth to our right before being swallowed up by the darkness.

We’re on the trail of a creature so emblematic of its home country that it’s considered a taonga (treasure) by the traditional owners. And although it has just 400 permanent human residents, the island of Rakiura (Stewart Island) boasts some 20,000 southern brown kiwis, making it the best place in the world to see this elusive creature.

Our tour starts with a boat trip that cruises past albatrosses, penguins and fur seals before heading to Little Glory Cove as the southern sky finally begins to darken around 10pm. Following a narrow path that leads from the beach into thick native bush, Real NZ guide India Read explains that although kiwis have notoriously poor eyesight, their hearing is so sensitive that even a camera shutter can disturb them. It doesn’t take long to discover that they have no such problems making noise.

For almost an hour, our group walks in silence as the forest echoes with high-pitched wails and pterodactyl-like shrieks that signal the presence of kiwis nearby. So it’s a relief when we reach the far side of the peninsula and the sound of crashing waves means we can finally talk. “Where the high tide drops the seaweed is a great feeding spot because there are so many sandhoppers,” Read says as she scans the beach to make sure we won’t accidentally disturb any sleeping sea lions. “I call it the kiwi highway.”

Within minutes, she’s beckoning me forward and I see a large fluffball just a few metres away. The kiwi’s head is buried so far in the sand that I can’t see its beak until it raises its head to eat. Again and again it slams its face into the ground then arcs its neck back to gobble a morsel, and even over the waves I can hear it snorting to clear the sand away between bites.

For five minutes we watch this ungainly beast with two giant drumsticks and a comically long neck shuffling along the beach.

“They’re actually quite clumsy,” whispers Read, and I have to suppress my laughter when this one topples over and starts in fright before running headlong into the dunes.

Walking back the way we came, we spot a little penguin waddling home for the night before resuming our own curious shuffle, arms and legs spread wide to avoid rustling our waterproof jackets.

“What a great night,” India says when we get back to the boat. “I didn’t see a kiwi until I began working here on Rakiura; now you’ve seen two more than most New Zealanders.”

How long is Real NZ’s Stewart Island Wild Kiwi Encounter? 

Real NZ’s Stewart Island Wild Kiwi Encounter takes 4.5 hours and costs $NZ249 ($226). The tour leaves from Oban, which can be reached via a flight from Invercargill or a ferry from Bluff at the southern tip of New Zealand’s South Island.

Originally published as Stewart Island is New Zealand’s best spot to see kiwis in the wild