The Kepler Tramp December 6th-8th 2010

Middle Earth

Kepler Trek

Lake Te Anau

A Takahe, once thought to be extinct.

In the States we call it hiking, in Nepal trekking, while here in New Zealand it goes by the slightly more confusing name of tramping. The Kepler trek, tramp, hike is a 60 kilometer circuit that begins and ends near the southern lake town of Te Anau. The trail meanders along the lake and then climbs through mossy beach forest to the tussocked hillsides above. We had fine weather and were able to take in some spectacular views, especially on the second day as we hiked along a series of ridges. We were also educated on the unfortunate consequences of introduced species here in New Zealand. Specifically on the Stoat (think weasel), which was brought overseas to control the rapidly expanding introduced rabbit population. One of the main problems was that the stoats preferred the easier catch flightless birds like the Kiwi and the Takahe. As a result, the Takahe was thought to have gone extinct and the Kiwi numbers have been drastically reduced. Fortunatley, a last bastion of Takahe was discovered some years ago and is currently being assisted by humans in an effort to increase the population. I believe there are less than 500 Takahe left. As we made our way, we came across a stoat trap (looks like a rectangular box with a large mouse trap and an egg inside) every two hundred meters. These traps along the length of the Kepler circuit have helped increase at risk and endangered flightless bird populations within the perimeter.