Discover New Zealand's Big Five

Those looking for adventure travel to Africa to see the Big Five - elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard.

In New Zealand, we have our own Big Five to discover - the great trees from the podocarp family: totara, rimu, kahikatea, matai and miro.

Above: At Rangiwahia in the far north of the Manawatu, this magnificent stand of rimu, kahikatea, matai, miro and black maire is protected by a 5.5ha QEII covenant on Bob and Prue Wakelin’s sheep and beef farm.

With the largest trees being over 500 years old, this was one of first areas approved for a covenant, initiated by the late Bruce Pemberton in November 1978 and personally inspected by the first QEII Chairperson, Sir Thaddeus McCarthy, and the first QEII Trust Manager, Lloyd White.

Our podocarps tower over other trees in the forest. Many were logged in the past for timber or cleared for farming and human settlement.

Right: Tall miro are protected in Judy Bugo’s 77ha covenant in South Westland along with alluvial kahikatea, rimu and waihoensis totara.

 

 

Find out more about podocarps throughout the country protected with QEII covenants by downloading Discover New Zealand's Big Five (PDF, 2.7MB).

 

 

Find out how to protect podocarps on your land ...


Open Space^TM Magazine No. 76, July 2009 © QEII National Trust