Okarito Lagoon is a coastal lagoon on the West Coast

West Coast, New Zealand

The West Coast is one of the administrative regions of New Zealand, located on the west coast of the South Island, and is one of the more remote and most sparsely populated areas of the country. It is made up of three districts: Buller, Grey and Westland...

 of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

's South Island

South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

. It is located 130 kilometres south of Hokitika, and covers an area of about 12 km², making it the largest unmodified wetland in New Zealand.

Several small rivers drain into the lagoon, and it is the outflow of Lake Mapourika

Lake Mapourika

Lake Mapourika is located on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It lies north of Franz Josef Glacier, and drains into the Okarito Lagoon. It is the largest of the West Coast lakes, a glacier formation from the last ice age...

. The lagoon is home of many species of wading birds, notably the extremely rare Kotuku

Eastern Great Egret

The Eastern Great Egret is a white heron of the genus Ardea, is considered a subspecies of the Great Egret . Although a study argued for full species status in 2005, most taxonomists consider it to be a subspecies...

 (Eastern Great Egret), which in New Zealand is extinct in all other areas.

At the southern end of the lagoon is the small settlement of Okarito.
Originally a gold mining township of over 1,500 people, it is now permanent home to only about 30 residents - among them Booker Prize-winning writer Keri Hulme

Keri Hulme

Keri Hulme is a New Zealand writer, best known for The Bone People, her only novel.-Early life:Hulme was born in Christchurch, in New Zealand's South Island. The daughter of a carpenter and a credit manager, she was the eldest of six children. Her parents were of English, Scottish, and Māori ...

, landscape photographer Andris Apse.

Bird watching, eco-tours

Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...

 and kayak tours of the lagoon are available, and there are a number of local hikes.

The rarest species of kiwi

Kiwi

Kiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae.At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world...

, the Rowi

Okarito Brown Kiwi

The Okarito Kiwi, Apteryx rowi, also known as the Rowi or Okarito Brown Kiwi, is a member of the Kiwi family Apterygidae, described as new to science in 2003. The species is part of the Brown Kiwi complex, and is morphologically very similar to other members of that complex...

is also found near the town of Okarito.

External links

• Okarito Lagoon new zealand birds limited
• Okarito Community Association