Our Year 11 NCEA students travelled on a beautiful Friday in Term 2 to the suspended mountain, Maungatautari.

The students were accompanied by Miss Simmonds, who is taking the Year 11 NCEA class this year, and Mr Thomson as they traversed into the heart of the Waikato.

This field trip is slightly different from our others as most of the day is run by the Education Team at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari which is led by Tali Jellyman. As we were quite a large group she also had one of their education team volunteers, Sue, helping out. The morning usually begins with an introduction to the work that they do on the maunga and the history. However, this year we were in for an exceptionally special treat as they had a 22-day-old kiwi that was about to be released into the Sanctuary. 

After the excitement of the morning, the students explored behind the predator-proof fence. It completely encloses the perimeter of the sanctuary reaching a total length of around 47 km. The aim of the fence is to keep predators out and allow the natural environment on the inside to revert back to what it was prior to the arrival of humans in New Zealand. 

This is a great opportunity that allows them to see directly what is being done to maintain our population of endemic species and allow them to flourish. The Sanctuary is directly contributing towards the goal of New Zealand being predator free by 2050. 

Once again, we were incredibly lucky as we were able to sight a wide variety of these endemic and native species. Most notably, all the students were able to see three Takahē. This is such a special thing to have done especially when you take into account that there are only around 450 of these birds in the world. It is estimated that around 9% of the total population of Takahē in the world were hatched in the Sanctuary, highlighting how important the work that they do is. 

As always the day is not complete without a little field sketching!

This is our third year visiting Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari and every year it is amazing to see how much the project is progressing. If you have not seen the work that they are doing there, make sure you go visit.