Oparara forest, Kahurangi National park, Karamea, West Coast, New Zealand
From our base at Little Wanganui it was a short drive to the Oparara Basin for a day of bird photography, caving and nature observation.
The Oparara Basin is a nationally significant area. It has tall stands of very ancient gondwanaland temperate rainforest, dominated in some areas by mature beech forest and in others by tall rimu/rata forest with dense understorey of other trees and forest plants. The area is one of kaast (limestone) landscape and is riddled with caves and tomos (shafts) and limestone arches. Some of the cave systems are very large indeed and contain fossils of a great many birds now extinct, such as the magnificent Haast eagle which, were it still alive, would be the biggest bird of prey in the world with talons the size of lions claws. The tea coloured water is natural. The high rainfall saturates the forest floor and soaks out tannic acid from the fallen leaves. The water is, essentially, weak tea! This makes the water slightly acidic which helps create the massive cave systems as the water seeps underground, eroding away the limestone into fantastic arches, caverns, and stactite/stalagmite formations.
Oparara forest, Kahurangi National park, Karamea, West Coast, New Zealand
From our base at Little Wanganui it was a short drive to the Oparara Basin for a day of bird photography, caving and nature observation.
The Oparara Basin is a nationally significant area. It has tall stands of very ancient gondwanaland temperate rainforest, dominated in some areas by mature beech forest and in others by tall rimu/rata forest with dense understorey of other trees and forest plants. The area is one of kaast (limestone) landscape and is riddled with caves and tomos (shafts) and limestone arches. Some of the cave systems are very large indeed and contain fossils of a great many birds now extinct, such as the magnificent Haast eagle which, were it still alive, would be the biggest bird of prey in the world with talons the size of lions claws. The tea coloured water is natural. The high rainfall saturates the forest floor and soaks out tannic acid from the fallen leaves. The water is, essentially, weak tea! This makes the water slightly acidic which helps create the massive cave systems as the water seeps underground, eroding away the limestone into fantastic arches, caverns, and stactite/stalagmite formations.