Kahurangi: The nature of Kahurangi National Park and Northwest Nelson

Kahurangi is a celebration of the biodiversity of Kahurangi National Park, as well as the adjoining areas of Northwest Nelson and Golden Bay. At the top of the South Island/Te Waipounamu, the huge expanse of Kahurangi National Park is at the centre of the wild reaches of Northwest Nelson, and along with the adjoining areas of Whanganui Inlet, Wharariki and Onetahua/Farewell Spit constitutes one of the most significant natural regions in Aotearoa. Together, they hold the greatest variety of plants and animals in the country, many found nowhere else on the planet. The region is a biodiversity hotspot, energised by ancient, complex geology and a multitude of habitats, from the vast beech stands of the interior to lush coastal rainforest, from sprawling ramparts of karst and marble to extensive wetlands and estuaries. In Kahurangi, Dave Hansford has reflected on how these places work, their natural processes and cycles, and the connections between organism and landform. He has pondered the things that threaten to end them, and met some of the people determined to stop that happening. This is nature writing at its absolute finest, while Hansford, one of our country’s foremost science and natural history writers, is eloquent and uncompromising in his arguments for why and how we must urgently rescue these precious wild lands.