Kapiti Island

Kapiti Island lies about 5km off the coast. It is 10 km long and about 2 km wide, covering 1,965 hectares. The highest point, Tuteremoana, is 520m above sea-level. The majority of the island is a nature reserve and marine reserves lie to the east and west of its shores. It is one of the nations’ most important sites for bird recovery.

Jewel of the Coast

Kapiti is one of the few relatively accessible island nature reserves giving people the opportunity to observe birds that are either very rare or absent from the mainland, such as the little spotted kiwi, and to see the recovery of vegetation. To safeguard the reserve, only fifty people per day may visit the Island and travel must be with one of the licensed commercial operators. There are three public tracks, two of which lead to the summit, but the greatest variety of birds can be seen along the lower parts of the tracks.

Historially, Kapiti was settled by a succession of Maori tribes and was the stronghold of the famous chief, Te Rauparaha in the 1820s and 30s, by which time Maori allowed European whalers to share the Island. During the 1840s much of the land was cleared for farming and sheep, goats, pigs, deer, cats and dogs were introduced. As early as 1870 Kapiti was identified by naturalists as a possible site for a bird sanctuary but it wasn’t until 1996 that the Island became completely free of introduced mammals.

Landing at Kapiti

Via only two registered tour operators