Environment

New Zealand’s Geographical “Birth”

New Zealand can be considered as a young country; geographically it is less than 10.000 years old. About 130 million years ago a piece of land broke off from the super continent Gondwanaland, this piece of land is now considered as New Zealand. Gondwanaland consisted of Africa, Australia, Antarctica and South America. After eons of erosions, fall and rise of the sea level, ice ages and other geographical forces the current shape of New Zealand was “born” 10.000 ago. This happened by the Pacific and the Indian or Australian plates crushing into each other.

A Varied Landscape

The major crush resulted in a magnificent landscape. Its beauty lies in its variety. It is imaginable finding all the different landscapes New Zealand consists of in one continent, but in one country makes it even more beautiful and special. The landscape varies from glaciers to dunes, from rainforest to snow dusted mountains and from hilly terrain to a volcanic plateau. More than half of New Zealand is farmland and more than 25% is forested. Most of the land is hilly terrain, 13% is alpine terrain with many peaks exceeding 3000 meters.

Geographically Dynamic Country

New Zealand is geographically seen still a dynamic country. The tectonic plates, Pacific plate and the Indian or Australian plate, split New Zealand in its length. These plates move in the same pace as human nails and hairs grow. On the northern island this caused and will cause volcanic eruptions. On the southern island it caused and will cause earthquakes and earth movements. Despite the disadvantage: the threat to human disasters caused by nature, it has its advantage as well: it is the creator of the stunning landscapes New Zealand consists of. For more information about New Zealand's geography you should visit the following site: http://www.nzgs.co.nz.

Animals and Plants

Due to the isolation of New Zealand the native plants and animals on the islands can’t be found anywhere else in the world. New Zealand separated from Gondwanaland before mammals were on the planet. This caused New Zealand’s very interesting range of insects and birds and only two species of bat as native land mammals. The most famous (flightless) bird of New Zealand is the Kiwi. This is the national emblem and of course the nickname for New Zealanders. A Kiwi has a round body covered with feathers. It is not easy to find this bird in wildlife. It is a protected bird, therefore you will find signs along the road, in order to protect this bird.

Furthermore New Zealand is famous for its number of sheep, almost 40 million. This equals the tenfold of New Zealand’s population. Interesting as well are the whales, dolphins, seals etc. living near the 13.000 km long shoreline of New Zealand.

New Zealand’s ecosystem has been seriously affected and changed through the plants and animals brought by the Maori and Europeans. Most changes are caused during the last 200 years. Examples of animals affecting the nature in New Zealand are: wild pigs, rabbits, cats and foxes. The Australian brushtail possum forms the most serious threat. This animal has no natural enemies so they have multiplied themselves easily. They destroy the trees by stripping the branches clean of leaves.

Additional information about New Zealand's flora and fauna can be found on the following site: http://www.doc.govt.nz.

National- and Forest Parks

In 1887 New Zealand’s first and the world’s fourth national park was “born”. Te Heuheu Tukino Four, paramount chief of the Tuwharetoa Maori tribe was afraid about the future of his tribes’ sacred ancestral mountains. He gave the land to New Zealand's government with the condition the land had to become protected. It became Tongariro National Park. Nowadays New Zealand counts 14 national parks covering more than 50,000 sq km. The northern island has 4; the southern has 10. If you would like to obtain additional information about New Zealand's National Parks, use the provided link: http://www.doc.govt.nz.

New Zealand also has 14 forest parks on the northern island and 6 on the southern. The national parks preserve an area in its natural state. Forest parks maintain a balance of land uses. The main recreational activity in the forest parks is tramping (trekking, walking).