Visit: Te Anau Bird Sanctuary/ Punanga Manu o Te Anau
- Brooke
- Oct 11, 2018
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 6, 2021
Sometimes seeing is believing.
It's one thing to see an animal on TV or online and feel like you know everything there is to know about it. It's another thing entirely to see the creature up close and personal, and reckon the mental image you had of the creature with the reality before you. Some things that already seem so familiar really need to be seen in real life, to be made tangible, for the appreciation to really kick in.
However, it's an entirely different experience when you stumble across a creature you didn't even know existed, and have to confront its existence the moment you first lay eyes on it. These unexpected moments while exploring the world exemplifies why travel has become my raison d'être - I simply live for them. And in my travels to Te Anau, I had one such moment when a little bird by the name of Aka who quite literally hopped into my life.
This was my experience with the takahē (pronounced "taka-hay") at the Te Anau Bird Sanctuary/Punanga Manu o Te Anau.
If you're not a kiwi (the person, not the bird), a takahē is likely still a mystery to you, but not for much longer. Its colorful feathers, strange shape, ginormous beak, and just overall unusual appearance instantly struck a chord that strung right up to my heart. It was cute without being cuddly, strange without being unsightly, and surprising without being disturbing. The takahē walked right into my life, and I never knew how much needed this strange being until I clamped eyes on it.
My first real sighting of a takahē, or more formally known as the South Island takahē, happened unexpectedly and somewhat unremarkably. Ben and I had run into Te Anau for dinner, and we had parked near the first roundabout as you enter the town. Not knowing how far away the restaurant we were headed to was, we parked, thinking it was much closer than it turned out to be. We got out of the car and walked over towards the souvenir shop so I could window shop, when I turned around and was confronted with one giant bird statue staring us right in the face.
We went over to the statue, read the sign, and I forced Ben into a picture or two. I should have made more of a mental note about the bird, wondering where I might see it somewhere in my travels. It's likely that I filed the takahē away into the mental folder of "NZ Birds I'd Like to See But Most Likely Won't," right next to the kiwi (the bird, not the person).
Off to dinner we went, memories of the takahē slowly floating into the ether, and back home to our warm beds we returned.
The next morning, as we were about to embark on more Fiordland adventures, our plans were to meander around the bird park, not knowing really anything about it, but just seeing what it was all about. We were delighted to see that it was free and housed a bunch of birds we had not experienced in the wild, or had, but in limited numbers.
And that's when Aka stumbled into my life. When we first arrived, we realized we had just missed the morning feeding time by minutes, but hoped we might surreptitiously come across some of the birds after their morning meal. And sure enough, Aka stood patiently by the feeding area, casually allowing the few tourists to admire his strange appearance and snap photos of him.
Though I had seen the statue the night before of a takahē, I had absolutely no inkling that I'd ever get a chance to see one in person. Even knowing there was a bird sanctuary right off the main drag of the town, it still never occurred to me that this endangered bird could be so accessible.
Therefore, when I first caught sight of Aka, I knew I'd have to come back at least one more time to see him (or maybe a friend or two) again. Ben and I stood and watched Aka, and I must have yammered on incessantly for god knows how long before we left to see what other birds lived in the bird park.
And there are other birds who live there, some hard to see in the wild, a few less so. The bird park was, overall, an incredibly enjoyable surprise place to see some endangered birds in a place that could one day help replenish the dwindling numbers of these birds in such a unique environment.
But seeing the takahē stayed with me. Why had I gone through thirty-six plus years on this earth and never even knew this guy existed? Why had I, when confronted with its existence the day before, not made more of a mental effort to remember it and seek it out? And when was the next time we could go back and see him again?
Fortunately, I had one more encounter with Aka, as we joined a morning feeding on our last morning in town. There were many more people there, all jostling for position to take pictures of the unusual creature. Aka seemed all the more nonplussed, going about what seemed like his routine of drinking some water and hanging out by the feeding window. I waited for the hordes of tourists to leave for a few more moments in Aka's presence.
This bird made an indelible impression on me, and I have since shared this experience with friends back home. Expressions of disinterest or mild care have been the prevailing reaction, once again reminding me of the importance of seeing these animals in person. It's easy to feign indifference from the comfort of thousands of miles, but something else completely to see the creature in person. It reminded me of my own nonchalance when I first saw the statue, and filed the bird away into the type of mental file that goes straight to the nightly whitewashed parts of the brain.
With so many animals out there fighting for survival due to lack of native habitat, pollution, climate change, and a host of other reasons, it reminds me of the importance of travel, and how seeing really can be believing. Yes, travel can greatly increase the average person's carbon footprint. But travel can also open up the individual to new ideas, while encouraging a whole host of reasons to do your best to make it easier for these creatures to stick around for future generations. This little takahē, totally surprisingly, taught me a great lesson - go out and expect the unexpected, and do the best you can to help creatures like the takahē have a future.
Punanga Manu o Te Anau/
Te Anau Bird Sanctuary
Located right on the edge of town, Te Anau Bird Sanctuary is easily accessible to anyone cruising through Te Anau. Free parking is available, or take an easy 15 minute lakeside stroll from the Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre.
For hours of operation, feeding times, and the other birds (suck as the kākā, and other birds needing some recuperation before heading back out into the wild, visit the park's website.
Pin It!
Comments