Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park

The 707 km ² Mount Cook National Park, Aoraki Māori is located on the South Island of New Zealand. It was established in 1953 and covers an alpine high mountain, adjacent to the Westland National Park. Together with the West Country, the Fiordland and Mount Aspiring National Park forms the Mount Cook National Park, the so-called Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area. Namesake of the national park is Mount Cook, with 3724 m the highest mountain in the Southern Alps. Since 1990, the area is a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Since 2012 he is shown as a light protected area as Aoraki / Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve.

Starting point for numerous recreational activities (hiking, mountaineering, skiing, scenic flights ) is the settlement Aoraki Mount Cook Village, which also offers overnight accommodations. In the park itself there are 17 shelters for hikers.

Flora and Fauna

Flora

In the Mount Cook National Park, there is little forest, which is a consequence of both natural factors (climate, slope, lack of suitable soils ) and human influences ( fire of the Maori, and later the Europeans; damage by introduced animals such as deer, chamois, springbok, rabbits and hares ) is. Nevertheless, there are over 550 species of alpine flora (excluding mosses, lichens and algae), of which 135 are endemic.

Among the most striking are:

• Yellow Buttercup (Yellow Buttercup, Ranunculus acraeus )
• Daisy Mountain ( Mountain Daisy, Celmisia verbascifolia )
• Golden Spear Grass ( Golden Spaniard, Aciphylla aurea )
• Giant Mountain Buttercup ( Giant Mountain Buttercup, Ranunculus lyallii )
• Sheep rug ( Vegetable Sheep, Raoulia eximia )
• Alpine gentian (Snow Gentian, Gentiana bellidifolia )
• South Island edelweiss (South Iceland Edelweiss, Leucogenes grandiceps )

Are particularly striking in the valleys and the multicolored lupines, although they were not originally native to here.

• The rock panties ( Wren skirt or Piwauwau, Xenicus gilviventris ) is also endemic, after he was already extinct in the North Island. This about 10 cm long, yellow-green (male ) or olive-brown (females ) colored passerine bird is a poor flier and leaves the high alpine zone rarely.
• At raptors can the marsh harrier ( Australian Harrier or Kahu, Circus approximans ) and, less frequently, the Maori Falcon ( New Zealand Falcon or Karearea, Falco novaeseelandiae ) watch.
• The Kea (mountain parrot, Nestor notabilis ) lives mainly near the tree line, but is also observed at high altitudes. It is endemic in the New Zealand Southern Alps. In the 20th century the number of these birds has declined by hunting; This was due to the (probably highly exaggerated ) fact that they occasionally attack the sheep farmer. Meanwhile, the Kea is strictly protected.
• Despite the almost complete absence of forest, some woodland birds in the Mount Cook National Park can be observed, including the Green Panties ( Riflemen, Acanthisitta chloris ), the Glockenhonigfresser ( Bellbird, Anthornis melanura ), the tomtit ( Tomtit, Petroica macrocephala ), the slaty - Brillenvogel ( Silvereye, Zosterops lateralis) and - less frequently - the Tui ( Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae ).
• The numerous rivers in the National Park are the habitat for many shorebirds, including skew -billed Plover ( Wrybill, Anarhynchus frontalis), Black-fronted Tern ( Black-fronted Tern, Sterna albostriata ), double banded Plover ( Banded Dotterel, Charadrius bicinctus ), South Island Oystercatcher (South - Iceland Pied Oystercatcher, Haematopus finschi ) and stilt ( Pied stilt, Himantopus himantopus ). Even the extremely rare Black Stilt ( Black Stilt, Himantopus novaezelandiae ) can be found here in a few copies. Among other duck and goose species particularly the Paradieskasarka ( Paradise Shelduck, Tadorna variegata ) is striking.

Insects

There are numerous endemic species of butterflies, grasshoppers and other insects and spiders. Noteworthy because of their frost tolerance is particularly the New Zealand Weta (Alpine Weta, Hemideina maori ), who is still at home in altitudes above 3000 m.