Fiordland - New Zealand. New Zealand

Fiordland is a New Zealand national park with relict nature and sacred Maori sites.

General information about Fiordland

Full name: Fiordland National Park national park).
Region: Southland, New Zealand.
Official website - fiordland...nz
IUCN Category: II (National Park).
Founded: 1952
Area: 12 thousand 500 km2.
Relief: granite plateau, dissected by gorges, river valleys and lake depressions, smoothly turning into highlands, coastline strongly indented, with a large number of fjords.
Visit is paid
Climate: maritime, temperate.
Purpose of creation: preservation of a unique natural landscape with relict flora and fauna from the times of the ancient continent of Gondwana, as well as sacred place indigenous people of New Zealand

For visitors to Fiordland

In the mountainous northwestern part of Yuzhny Island lies the largest national park of the islands - Fiordland.
There is a fee to visit the park. Administrative center it is located in the small town of Te Anau on the southeastern coast of the lake of the same name. Here you can stay and relax in small cozy hotels and taste traditional New Zealand dishes. The town has everything necessary to receive tourists and comfortable rest You can rent a car to visit the amazing places of Fiordland. At a special stand in the visitor center there is information about the history of the region, the features of its nature, and friendly staff will help you choose various souvenirs.
From Te Anau on the highway in 2.5 hours you can, which is 120 km north of the city, or in 20 minutes by bus you can get to Lake Manapouri, from which one of the excursion routes to the Daski fjord. The park staff can offer more than 10 excursion routes of varying lengths and durations, the most famous of them being Milford, Hollyford and Kepler.
You can explore the beauties of Fiordland on your own, or you can take a guide. There are specially equipped campsites on the territory for overnight stays, however, in the summer it is recommended to book places in advance, and this will give you more freedom.
Visitors to the park can choose from a variety of entertainment and recreational activities, including sightseeing flights on a light aircraft, pleasure boat cruises, sea kayaking, scuba diving, cycling and safaris, fishing, animal watching, and visiting an underwater research observatory.
The territory of Fiordland can be reached from the city of Dunedin by sea or by bus along the highway. Dunedin has international Airport, receiving flights from Australia, and in the town of Glenorchy, which is located near the north-eastern border of the park, a small airfield accepts domestic and charter flights.

History of Fiordland National Park

The Maori people are considered to be the pioneers of New Zealand. These people from the Eastern Islands began to develop the islands in the 11th-14th centuries. Here they fished, hunted birds, practiced slash-and-burn agriculture, and mined punama (jade) from the rivers. The name of the people means “normal” or “ordinary”. In Maori mythology, these words distinguish people from spirits.
The first European to see the shores of the New Zealand islands in 1642 was Abel Tasman, and in 1768 they were explored by James Cook. Soon, ships with settlers and whalers flocked to this part of Oceania, who began to build their own settlements and forts on the coast.
Since 1840, after the signing of a treaty between the Maori and England, the territory has been owned by the British Crown, while maintaining all the rights of the indigenous people of New Zealand. In 1907, New Zealand became an independent dominion.
The government of the country is making many efforts to preserve unique nature islands and in 1952 created the Fiordland National Park. In 1986 it was included in the List of objects world heritage UNESCO.

Walking around Fiordland

. Here, tropical rainforests coexist with glaciers and snowfields, and colorful parrots and fluffy kiwis coexist with nimble penguins.
Ecosystems of the ocean coast abruptly transition to mountain ranges and valleys protected from various external influences. Rudyard Kipling called this territory the eighth wonder of the world.
The reason for the pristine preservation of the nature of these places lies in the overly mountainous terrain. The peaks of the Darran massif, bordering the conservation area, rise to 2746 m and are almost all covered with snowfields or glaciers. This massif is one of the oldest in New Zealand; it appeared as a result of volcanic processes 450 million years ago. The underlying rock is granite, gneiss and partly diorite with the remains of tertiary limestone, so the mountains are resistant to erosion. The traces of the last ice age are still visible on their slopes; then there was a continuous ice field here.

South height mountain range above sea level gradually decreases to 1000-1200 meters. Flowing from the highlands, the glacier tongues in the western and eastern parts of the park almost symmetrically carved out majestic fjords and numerous lakes, the depth of which exceeds 400 m. The bottom of some of the lakes is even below sea level.
Most large lakes parks - Te Anau, Manapouri, Hauroko, Monoway and Poteriteri. Te Anau is the second largest in New Zealand, its length is 65 km. Most excursion routes start from here.
Lake Manapouri was formed about 20 thousand years ago, it is the second deepest lake in the country.
Translated from the Maori language, its name means “lake of the sad heart.” Maori also call it Rotoau - “rainy lake” and Moturau - “lake of a thousand islands”, which well characterizes the territory of the reservoir: in its waters there are 34 islands, 22 of which are overgrown with dense forest.
In total, there are about 15 large and many small fjords on the territory of “Fiordland”.
The largest and most beautiful include Milford, Doubtful, George, Brexi, Dusky. The longest is considered Doubtful, that is, “Bay of Doubt”. That's what James Cook called it, who believed that it was still a strait, but could not test his hypothesis. You can only get to the fjord by boat.
In the waters of the park, only two boats ply between the fjords, always trying to stay out of each other’s line of sight. This allows visitors to merge with nature as much as possible, feel its grandeur, and absorb the beauty of unique places. By the way, about 450,000 people visit the national park every year.
Fiordland has two permanent waterfalls: Stirling and Lady Bowen, while the Arthur River is home to the park's tallest waterfall, Sutherland. It can be seen while walking along the path leading to Milford. During rains, many small waterfalls form, but their water is carried by the wind and does not always reach the ground.
Travelers will also be interested in archaeological sites, especially the ancient Maori road, which runs through the entire conservation area.

Natural Wonders of Fiordland Park

The width of the most beautiful and majestic fjord in the park, Milford Sound, located in the north-west of “Fiordland”, at the confluence with the Tasman Sea, is about 3 km. Before sea waters flooded this place, there was a valley formed by a glacier with steep granite cliffs.
The average height of the mountains surrounding the fjord is about 1220 m. The highest of them, Miter Peak, is located in the center. Elephant Peak resembles the head of this animal in outline, and Leo Peak resembles the king of beasts crouched on the hind legs.
The indigenous people call the fjord Piopiotahi after the extinct piopio (New Zealand blackbird). According to legend, the half-god, half-man Maui tried to win immortality for all people in an unequal battle, but died in a fight with the mistress of the sea. His faithful companion, the Piopio bird, flew around the bay for a long time, mourning the death of his hero and friend.

1695 meters - Miter Peak
1517 meters - Elephant Peak
1302 meters - Lev Peak

A few more interesting things:

The ancestors of the Maori arrived on the islands from their ancestral homeland of Hawaiki. In each of the seven boats, according to legend, there was a tribe with a leader
Male southern elephant seals have a skin pouch on their nose that swells during fights or mating displays.
Kea is an endangered species, inhabits mountain valleys with beech forests, endemic to New Zealand, included in the IUCN Red List
Milford Sound Fjord - the pearl of the west coast of the South Island
Fjordland - this is how the name of the park is translated

Flora of Fiordland

The flora of “Fiordland” was almost unaffected by human activity. Thanks to the humid climate, there is an abundance of vegetation: more than 7,000 species in total.
Wet evergreen forests cover almost the entire territory of “Fiordland” from valleys to mountains at an altitude of up to a kilometer above sea level. seas. These are mainly beech forests, in which subantarctic beech (Nothofagus menziesii) is found, up to 800 years old.
There are a lot of laurels (Laurus spp.), podocarpus spp., rosaceae (Rosaceae), and myrtle trees (Myrtaceae) in the park. In the wet parts of the park near the forest there is a dense undergrowth consisting of numerous vines, shrubs, tree ferns, mosses and lichens.
Above the forest zone there is a mountain steppe, or tussoki. Mostly turf-like signs grow here. In Fiordland, 35 species of plants (mountain) are classified as endemic, most of which are found in the Tussok areas. These are representatives of such genera as Aciphylla, Olearia, Chionochloa, Festuca, Celmisia, Poa and Ranunculus.
The main feature of Fiordland is that nowhere else on the planet do glaciers descend so close to the border of evergreen rainforests. The contrast of the bluish-whitish glacial tongue with the dense thickets of laurel (Laurus sp.), myrtle (Myrtoideae) and southern beech (Nothofagus menziesii) bordering its base is amazing. In the valleys of the park there are many swamps with their characteristic vegetation.

Animals of Fiordland

Fauna national park amazing. First of all, Fiordland is the kingdom of birds. Lives within its borders greatest number of the birds of New Zealand, including such rare representatives as takahe (this is Porphyrio hochstetteri) and also kakapo (Strigops habroptilus).
Endemics include southern kiwi (Apteryx australis), yellow-fronted parakeet (Cyanoramphus auriceps), New Zealand rock wren (Xenicus gilviventris), weca rail (Gallirallus australis), bow-nosed plover (Anarhynchus frontalis), sharpshooter (Acanthisitta chloris), yellow-headed mohua (Mohoua ochrocephala), kea (Nestor notabilis).
Several species of penguins (Spheniscidae) live near the foot of the fjords, such as the thick-billed penguin (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus), the great crested penguin (Eudyptes sclateri) and the little penguin (Eudyptes minor). Albatrosses (Diomedea sp.) and about five species of petrels (Procellariidae) can sometimes be seen above.
Off the coast of the island in the sea you can admire killer whales (Orcinus orca), sperm whales (Physeter catodon), humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and southern right whales (Eubalaena australis).
Along the coast lie large colonies of New Zealand fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri) and the relatively rare New Zealand sea lions (Phocarctos hookeri). Leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) and southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) occasionally appear here.
Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound are home to pods of Australian bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops australis), dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus), common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) and Hector's dolphins (Cephalorhynchus hectori).
The national park is home to about 3,000 insect species, of which 10% are endemic. Fireflies, such as fungus gnats (Arachnocampa luminosa), are very interesting.
The underwater world of the fjords will not leave you indifferent. Layers of fresh water are higher than sea water; they scatter light, so deep-sea fish live almost on the surface, and park visitors can admire them from the boat. It is worth mentioning a variety of tropical sponges (Porifera), mollusks (Mollusca), and corals (Anthozoa). The park is home to the largest colony of black corals (Antipatharia).
Red deer (Cervus elaphus), couscous (Phalanger spp.) and rats (Rattus spp.) were once introduced into “Fiordland.” They have a very negative impact on the native fauna of the national park.

The New Zealand islands are full of , and Fiordland Park is one of the best.

The most beautiful, most beautiful place in New Zealand is Fiordland. A place that takes your breath away, that delights you more than any place in New Zealand. Fiordland literally translates as “land of fjords,” and the truth of this name is confirmed by the presence of more than thirty fjords in this reserve. Yes, yes, you read that right, Fiordland - national reserve New Zealand and, perhaps, the best of all 14 reserves.

Origin of Fiordland

Many thousands of years ago, there was a colossal glacier in this area. There were no magnificent fjords then, no steep mountain slopes overgrown with green trees, no long winding rivers. There was only a huge glacier. Years passed, centuries flew by, the temperature of the surrounding air rose, and the glacier began to slowly melt and sink down. As it descended, the glacier, with its incredible titanic mass, carved into the rocks on which it was located long and sometimes deep valleys, which, when filled with water, became in the future numerous fjords and winding rivers.

Features of Fiordland

One of interesting features Fiordland is that only here and nowhere else on the planet are wild green forests in extremely close proximity to ancient glaciers. This is a very strange and at the same time exciting and beautiful sight - a combination of lush green forests and dark blue thickness of glaciers. Most deep place Fiordland - Lake Wakatipu, its maximum depth is 420 meters.

Another feature of Fiordland is that only these forests are home to the rarest species of parrots on Earth - the kakapo owl parrot. This parrot eats worms and snails and lives in burrows in the ground. Besides him, there are also such unusual birds as the yellow crow (the best songbird living in the mountains), thuja and emerald parrot.

But the main feature is, of course, the majestic and beautiful fjords. Among all their diversity, the most famous and beautiful are Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound. Each of them has its own admirers and admirers, and each of the fans proves that his fjord is the best. Isn't this an indicator that both fjords are the best?

Doubtful Sound - sunset

Mirror Lake in Milford Sound

How to get there

You can get to Milford Sound from Dunedin, both by land and sea. If you somehow find yourself near Lake Wakatipu, then a narrow road along a mountain gorge leads from it to Milfor Sound - Milford Road (State Highway 94). If you're not a fan of mountain crossings, you can take a boat ride along Milfor Sound, which sails from Dunedin, Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington.

The Country of Fjords or Fiordland has long been the name given to the territory located in the southwest of New Zealand. In 1952, a National Park Fiordland National Park, the largest in New Zealand. Its area is more than 12.5 thousand square kilometers. Here are such symbols of all of New Zealand as Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau, Sutherland Falls, Sound Fjord...

Enlarged map of Fiordland National Park. (Google maps)

Sorry, the card is temporarily unavailable

Fiordland National Park Google map maps

Fjord country is mostly mountains. They are a continuation of the Southern Alps and their height reaches 3000 meters. In the distant past, this territory was covered by a huge glacier, which melted and cut the slopes of this mountain range deep gorges, forming many picturesque fjords and long narrow lakes.
Mother Nature generously endowed New Zealand with beauty. And the best and most picturesque landscapes of New Zealand are concentrated right here - in the Land of Fjords.

To everyone who comes to these lands for the first time, it seems that even today no human has set foot on this land. One of the features of the Fiordland coast is that the rocks that form the bays plunge sharply into the water and it seems that it is simply impossible to find places to land on the shore.
Another feature of these places is the surprisingly close proximity of forests to glaciers. You probably won’t find another place on earth where southern beech, laurel, myrtle... would coexist so closely with the snow-white crystal layer of ice.

There are also many unique mountain lakes Fjord countries. The local lakes are long and narrow. It seems as if the rocks, rising steeply above their water surface to a height of up to two kilometers, are still squeezing them on both sides. For example, Lake Waikatipu is the deepest and longest in Fiordland. From the northwest to the southeast of the island it stretches for almost 100 km, and its depth reaches 400 meters. As many as 25 rivers flow into Lake Waikatipu. These rivers have no name. On maps they are designated using serial numbers. Every five minutes the water in the lake rises and falls again by 7.5 cm. The lake seems to be breathing. Local ancient legend says that this giant's heart is hidden at the bottom of the lake. New Zealanders call the lake the “heart” of this island. Scientists today still do not have an explanation for this unique natural phenomenon.
The animals that inhabit Fiordland National Park are another unique feature of the park. Fiordland's forests are home to almost 700 species of endemic animals and plants. You will not find such exotic animals and plants anywhere except Fiordland National Park.
The forests of Fiordland are home to the large, unusually behaved kea predator parrot, the amazingly beautiful emerald parrot, the kakapo owl parrot, the singing birds tui and the yellow crow.

The number of kakapo owl parrots reaches only 125 individuals. Kakapo are the only species of parrot that are nocturnal and hide in their burrows during the day.
The population of the nearly extinct Takahe bird has recently begun to increase again. The takahe is a bird that cannot fly and is about the size of a goose. She has beautiful plumage and a bright red short thick beak.

On the roads you can see an interesting sign: a penguin enclosed in a red circle. In this way, road workers indicate the crossing points of the cute little penguins living in Fiordland.

Outwardly, they are similar to their polar relatives, but their lifestyle is very different from them. They place their nests several kilometers from the coast and every day they make walking to the sea, where they find food for themselves and their young.

Video from Kiwi. Kiwis are small wingless birds that can only be found in New Zealand.

In most of Fiordland there are simply no roads. Therefore, visiting tourists travel on foot to most of the remote places of the national park, using the services of guides.

It should be noted that these hiking are safe for the life and health of tourists, since there are no large predators or poisonous animals on the island.
For those unprepared for mountain trekking along the fjords, trips by boat are probably more suitable.

Such trips are no less interesting and allow you to fully enjoy all the unique landscapes and fantastic beauties of the Fjord Country.
The Fjord Country is a place where many natural wonders come together. A real wonderland!

In 1990, Fiordland National Park was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. And together with Westland, Mount Cook and Muant Aspiring National Parks they form the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area.

Finally, a little video:

Helicopter flight over beautiful waterfalls, lakes and snowy mountain peaks around Milford Sound in New Zealand (northern part of Fiordland National Park).

Fiordland is a national park in New Zealand. With an area of 12,500 km2, it is the largest in the country. Fiordland National Park was founded in 1952. The park is bordered on the western border by the fjords of the Tasman Sea, and on the eastern side by lakes. The lakes in Fiordland are some of the deepest in New Zealand, and the mountains are up to 2746 meters high.

Together with Mount Cook, Westland and Mount Aspiring National Parks, Fiordland forms the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area. The park contains some of the oldest natural complexes on the planet. The nature of these consists of alpine valleys and subtropical forests, which sharply distinguishes the park from the rest of the island. Previously, this area was covered with glaciers, which formed fjords and gorges.

Tourists arriving here are struck by the lack of human activity. It’s as if these places have never even been visited. It is difficult to find a suitable place to live here. In addition, the proximity of glaciers to evergreen forests is surprising.

The lakes of the national park deserve a separate article, because they have a rich history. One of the deepest and longest of them is Waikatipu. Its length is more than 100 km, and its depth reaches 400 meters. 25 rivers without names carry their water to it; they are simply numbered on the map. Because of its peculiarity, the lake is sometimes called the “heart of the South Island”. The water in the lake rises by 7 cm approximately every 5 minutes and almost immediately returns to its previous position. A reasonable explanation has not yet been given for such a phenomenon. But local residents There is an explanation for this - the giant’s heart beats there.

According to an ancient Maori legend, the daughter of Chief Manata once lived here, who fell in love with the hunter Matakauri. One day a mighty giant attacked their tribe and took the girl captive. then he called all the warriors and ordered them to save Manata, and he promised to give her to the one who saves her as a wife. Everyone except Matakauri was afraid of the giant and he had to go alone to the monster to his death. Having risen high into the mountains, the hunter found the leader's daughter tied to a tree, and a giant was sleeping nearby. The young man took the girl to the tribe, and he himself returned to the mountains, since the giant must be killed, otherwise he will take revenge. While the giant was sleeping, ahead of the mountains, Matakauri covered him with brushwood for several days. He set fire to the brushwood and the flames engulfed the giant, the sun was clouded with smoke, and the heat was so strong that it burned the ground, forming a huge depression. Over time, rainfall and the waters of mountain rivers filled the hole, which was later called Lake Waikatipu. But what was left of the giant was a mighty heart, lying deep under the water, and with each blow the water in the lake rises and immediately falls.

The national park is home to unique birds - rare kakapo parrots, which live underground, feeding on worms and snails. Also living here is a predatory parrot, the kea, which can cut the carcass of a dead sheep down to its skeleton. They were almost completely exterminated by farmers, because they believed that kea sat on the backs of sheep and tore them apart alive. Previously, there were no ships with freezers, so the wool was sent to the UK, but the cape was thrown away, and the winged “orderlies” ate it. According to zoologists, kea does not attack living sheep.

The South Island was once called "the habitat of the takahe". Tatahe is a bird the size of a goose and unable to fly. It is distinguished by its bright and lush plumage, powerful legs and a short, thick red beak. With the arrival of Europeans it was exterminated. But in 1948, near Lake Te Anau, amateur naturalist Orbell found a bird that was previously considered extinct. This became one of the largest ornithological discoveries of the 20th century.

In addition to these rare birds, other birds can be found in Fiordland National Park: kiwi, rock wrens, clubbills, New Zealand ducks, wekarallas, yellow crows, and many species of parrots. There are many types of food available for them, including 3,000 varieties of insects. Of these, 10% can be found exclusively in the national park. Deer, couscous, rats, and elk, brought by Europeans, were able to adapt here. In the waters of the fjords you can meet seals, sponges, mollusks, albatrosses, petrels, penguins, including the rare New Zealand crested penguin.

The Fiordland mountain ranges are considered to be some of the wettest areas in the world. It rains here almost 200 days a year, which falls uniformly throughout the year. Because of which, in the fjords there is always a layer of fresh water of 40 meters. average temperature July - 5°C, and in January - 23°C.

National Park in the southwest of the South Island of New Zealand. Created in 1904, area 1.2 million hectares. Guards natural complexes moist evergreen forests with tree ferns, laurels, legworts, rosaceae, myrtle and lianas, complexes of subtropical forests with southern beech and shrub thickets, as well as alpine and sub alpine meadows on the slopes of the Southern Alps. The park is known for its unique bird fauna, including the rare kea parrot, the kaka forest parrot or green nestor, the burrow-dwelling owl parrot, the best singer of New Zealand forests - the tui bird (bush robin) and the takahe rail, until recently considered extinct and discovered only in one of the valleys of Fiordland, as well as the symbol of the country - the flightless kiwi bird and the yellow-eyed penguin. Dolphins and fur seals are found in the waters off the coast. The special flavor of the park is given exclusively by picturesque landscape a coastline cut by deep fjords, to which mighty glaciers descend from the mountains, in some places reaching a height of 300 m.

Fiordland
The extreme southwest of the South Island of New Zealand has long been called Fiordland - the Land of Fjords. The nature here is strikingly different from the hilly plateaus North Island, above which, and only here and there, rise low cones of young volcanoes. The South Island is a predominantly mountainous country, the backbone of which is the mighty chain of the Southern Alps, raising their snowy peaks to an almost 4-kilometer height.

A huge glacier that once covered this area carved deep trough-shaped gorges into the slopes of the ridge, in which one and a half dozen narrow long lakes and at least thirty deep fjord bays were formed, which gave the name to this picturesque corner of the country. New Zealand is extremely rich natural beauties, but the landscapes of Fiordland are the most beautiful thing that can be seen in this fabulous land, and perhaps on our entire planet. The traveler who gets here is at first speechless when the ship enters a calm bay surrounded by kilometer-long rock walls and heads deeper into the island, to where the snow whitens on the slopes of the Southern Alps.

And the further the ship sails, the longer the tourist gets acquainted with the amazing and diverse nature of Fiordland, the stronger his admiration for the magical beauty of the surrounding places. And it is difficult to decide what is the most picturesque, the most interesting, the most majestic and the most exciting in this wild and deserted country: bays or mountains, forests or waterfalls, lakes or glaciers, rare, endangered birds or the longest mosses in the world... Twenty descending from the mountains thousand years ago, giant glacial tongues cut into the rocky shores of the South Island its main decoration - winding fjords that sometimes go 50 km deep, into which three-hundred-meter waterfalls plunge from steep cliffs. And located in the vicinity of the Milford Sound fjord, Sutherland Falls, whose height reaches almost six hundred meters, is one of the five highest on our planet.

The New Zealand bays compare favorably with the equally beautiful fjords of Norway or Southern Chile in the complete absence of traces of human activity. Their banks go so steeply into the water that it is not easy to find a place on them not only for a settlement, but even just for a tourist tent. Second characteristic Fiordland has an unusually close proximity of its coastal forests to mountain glaciers. Nowhere else on Earth do rivers of ice descend directly to the edge of moist evergreen forests. The contrast of the bluish, fissured half-kilometer thickness of the glacier with the thickets of myrtle, southern beech and laurel bordering its foot literally amazes the traveler who sees the proud slopes of the majestic ridge of the Southern Alps from the deck of a cruise ship through binoculars.

Meanwhile, the apparent implausibility of this picture is easily explained. Due to the steepness of the western "front" of the Southern Alps, New Zealand's glaciers move much faster than their counterparts elsewhere in the Pyrenees or Himalayas. Some of them, such as the Tasman Glacier, move down half a meter every day. Before melting, the tongue of the glacier sometimes manages to descend to a height of 300 m above sea level. And the upper limit of forests at this latitude reaches 1000 m. As a result, ice and tropical forests meet each other, ignoring “intermediaries” like alpine meadows or mountain tundra.

Even more beautiful are the numerous mountain lakes of the Southern Alps. Narrow, long and compressed by rocky slopes rising 1.5-2 km above their blue waters, they are somewhat reminiscent of the reservoirs of the Taimyr Putorana plateau in Siberia. But, of course, the forests surrounding Lakes Te Anau, Waikatipu, Wanaka, Ohau or Rakaia are immeasurably richer, denser, higher and more luxurious than the Putorana larch woodlands. Valleys in the depths mountainous regions absolutely not populated. Many places in Fiordland have never been touched by humans. And every new expedition discovers here previously unknown peaks, waterfalls, lakes and passes.

The longest lake in New Zealand, Waikatipu, stretches from northwest to southeast for almost 100 km, cutting the ridge in a blue transverse zigzag. Its depth reaches 400 m. So many rivers flow into the Waikatipu, which, due to the lack of population, did not have local names, that topographers chose not to exercise their imagination, but to simply designate them on the map with serial numbers: from the First to the Twenty-Fifth. There is a mysterious connection with this lake. a natural phenomenon, for which science has not yet found an explanation. The water in it rises by seven and a half centimeters every five minutes, then drops to its previous level. The lake seems to be breathing. New Zealanders like to say that beneath the waters of Waikatipu beats the heart of the South Island.

And here is how the ancient Maori legend explains the mystery of Lake Waikatipu: “Long ago,” it says, “the daughter of the chief Manata and the brave young hunter and warrior Matakauri lived in one of the valleys of the island. The young man and the girl fell in love with each other, but trouble happened - the evil giant Matau attacked their village and took Manata to his possessions, far deep into the snow-capped mountains. In despair, the old leader, the girl's father, turned to all the warriors of the tribe, begging them to save his daughter. He promised whoever saved the girl to give her as a wife. None of the men dared to fight the giant, and only Matakauri dared to do this desperate thing. The young daredevil climbed high into the mountains and found a sleeping giant there, and next to him, Manata tied to a tree. Having freed his beloved, he went down with her to the village, but did not stay there with the girl, but returned to the mountains again. After all, it was clear that, having woken up, the evil giant would again descend into the valley and deal with the kidnapper, and take the girl back.

And Matakauri decided to destroy the giant. While he was sleeping, with his head on one mountain and his feet on the other two, the young man began to drag armfuls of brushwood, twigs and logs from the forest and cover the sleeping giant with them. Matakauri worked many days and nights. Then, by rubbing two pieces of wood together, he got a fire and lit the fire. The giant was engulfed in flames, and the smoke obscured the sun. The heat from the huge fire was so strong that the flames burned through the ground. A gigantic depression was formed, resembling the outline of a giant's body. Rains and mountain rivers filled it with water and turned it into a lake, which people called Waikatipu. And only the giant’s heart did not burn. It lies deep at the bottom of the lake and is still beating. And with each blow, the lake waters rise and fall..."

Over the past decades, so many rare birds have been discovered in the remote corners of the Fjord Country that the country's authorities decided to create one of the largest national parks world with an area of one million two hundred thousand hectares! (This is larger than the entire territory of Lebanon or Cyprus.) In the forests of Fiordland Park live such unique creatures as the rare owl parrot-kakapo, which lives in earthen burrows and feeds on snails and worms, or the huge and unusual in its habits predatory parrot kea, which can , like an African vulture, butcher the carcasses of dead sheep, leaving only skeletons of them.

The kea was practically exterminated in other places in New Zealand, since cattle farmers believed that it could sit directly on the backs of sheep and tear pieces of meat directly from living animals, and therefore mercilessly destroyed the beautiful bird, which, by the way, first became acquainted with meat only after the appearance of Europeans. After all, before that, there were no mammals in New Zealand at all, except for bats, and only the English settlers accustomed kea to an unusual diet. The fact is that before the invention of refrigerated ships, New Zealanders sent only sheep wool to England and threw away the carcasses. And then, around the slaughterhouses there was enough food for a well-fed existence for more than a dozen winged “orderlies.” However, most zoologists categorically reject the accusation of attacks on live sheep.

Also found in the mountain thickets of Fiordland are the most beautiful emerald parrot, the vocal thuja bird and the generally accepted best singer of the alpine forests, prosaically called the yellow crow. And in 1948, on the shores of Lake Te Anau, amateur naturalist Orbell discovered the takahe bird, which was considered long extinct, making the herd the largest ornithological discovery of the 20th century. The takahe is a flightless bird about the size of a large goose. It is distinguished by its bright, beautiful plumage, strong legs and a short, thick beak of bright red color. Once upon a time, before the arrival of Europeans, there were so many takahe on the South Island that all West Coast The Maori were called "the place where the takahe live."

Settlers from England liked the hunt for tasty game that could not fly away, and already at the end of the 19th century, hunters stopped seeing takahe. It was believed that they had been completely exterminated, but after more than half a century it turned out that several pairs of unique birds found shelter on the shores of the inaccessible mountain lake. Now their habitat is under strict protection, and the rare species seems to have been saved from destruction.

Some optimistic zoologists believe that in the inaccessible corners of Fiordland, the gigantic moa birds, three-meter tall giants of the New Zealand fauna, could have survived to this day. Disappeared several centuries ago, they were the largest birds on Earth, along with the now extinct inhabitant of Madagascar - the giant ostrich apiornis. Alas, the hopes of optimists are most likely groundless. No traces of the moa have yet been found.

And on the highways of the southern part of the island you can often see unusual road sign with the image of a penguin enclosed in a red circle. This is how the road service warns about the crossing areas of yellow-eyed penguins - small, cute birds, completely different in lifestyle from their polar counterparts. They make their nests in the forest, several kilometers from the coast, and every day they leisurely walk to the sea, where they obtain food for themselves and their offspring.

From the southernmost in New Zealand large city Dunedin can be reached in the Land of Fjords both by land and sea. The most popular of Fiordland's bays, Milford Sound, is reached from Lake Waikatipu by a narrow road through an amazingly beautiful gorge. New Zealanders nicknamed this path the Path of Miracles. The lake itself, covered in legends, is associated with inhabited areas east coast along an ancient path once laid by gold miners. At one time, Waikatipu experienced a period of “gold rush”, when on its shores, like mushrooms, tent cities and gold mines. But the reserves of the precious metal soon ran out, and now it has only become a tourist route old road reminds of old times.

No less interesting, and even more accessible for tourists unprepared for mountain trekking, is traveling through the fjords by boat. Such a voyage will allow you, regardless of the weather (which is replete with rain and fog), to enjoy the fantastic landscapes of the Fjord Country and, in particular, to visit Dusky Sound, hidden behind the mountainous Resolution Island, where two centuries ago the camp of the Cook expedition, which compiled the first map, was located coast of Fiordland. He also named the island, which protects the hospitable and picturesque bay from autumn storms, after his ship “Resolution”.

And a hundred miles to the north, the main attraction of Fiordland, the famous Milford Sound, cuts 40 km into the coast. And when the ship passes Mount Mithres, which guards the entrance to it, raising its peak 1700 m above the sea, and finds itself surrounded by steep forested slopes of coastal ridges, the traveler begins to feel as if he is sailing into a fairy tale. The blue and emerald waters of the fjord are not stirred by the slightest breeze. From the green thickets comes the gentle voice of the thuja bird. Ahead, at the turn of the bay, a long foamy ribbon of a waterfall shines silver, and even further, in the very depths, rise the snowy peaks of the Humboldt Mountains, behind which lies the mysterious and alluring Lake Waikatipu. At the foot of the mountains lies the only settlement on the entire coast of the national park - the Milford Sound tourist base, from where a picturesque trail will lead the traveler to the most amazing and grandiose natural wonder of the Southern Alps - the crazy jump of a mighty river from a black cliff called Sutherland Falls.

From here, a simple pass leads the tourist to the shores of a spacious and deep lake Te Anau, home of the clumsy red-billed takahe - the fortunately unextinct pearl of the bird kingdom. The further path will lead the traveler to a slightly north of Trope A wonderland to take back to Milford Sound. But the impression of the South Island will not be complete without continuing the journey beyond the northern border of Fiordland - to the Westland fjords, located at the foot of highest peak New Zealand, Mount Cook. The stunning landscape that opens up to the gaze of the tourist here can be very roughly described as a Swiss view in the Mont Blanc region with the seaside landscape of Norway in the foreground. The symphony of shapes and colors of the sea, jungle, snow, ice and stone will be remembered for a long time by the tourist who comes here.

Of course, you can truly feel the enchanting and somehow piercing beauty of this mountain landscape only by walking yourself along the steep slopes and ice of the Southern Alps. In addition, a breathtaking journey along the bluish-white slopes of the Franz Josef Glacier, which reaches almost 600 m in thickness, will make the traveler experience many thrills when crossing cracks on snow bridges and descending from almost vertical icefalls. The exit from the ice zone to the sea through foggy humid forests, overgrown with waist-length mosses and resounding with ringing birdsong, will be a spectacular final chord in this journey full of vivid impressions, amazing contrasts and unforgettable landscapes to the opposite side of Moscow. the globe, to the most beautiful corner of Oceania - New Zealand's Fiordland