Welcome to Waikereru - an Ark in the Bush. Waikereru is a haven for rare and endangered species of indigenous birds, plants and animals. It is reached by a winding gravel road up an inland valley, just 9 kilometres from Gisborne city on the Tai Rawhiti / East Coast of New Zealand.

From high hill ridges to the west, three streams tumble down steep valleys and across a plain, entering the Waimatā River to the east. A rare surviving strip of lowland bush (Longbush Reserve) runs beside the Waimatā River. The bush is alive with the sound of birds, including tui, bellbirds, fantails, kingfishers, tomtits, whiteheads and many kereru or native pigeons.

Waikereru is a hub for ecological innovation. Its visionary projects include:

It also helped to inspire:

Nau mai, haere mai!

Visiting Waikereru

Waikereru is on land owned by Dame Anne and Jeremy Salmond. Longbush Reserve is open to the public – access is on the right, opposite 910 Riverside Road.

Waikereru (including the Welcome Shelter and 1769 Seed Archive) can be visited by arrangement – please contact us at [email protected]. Access is on the left, at 846 Riverside Road.

We treat the Ecosanctuary like a marae – visitors are very welcome, but the trustees need to know you’re coming! The Waikereru Hills are actively managed, with trapping and shooting. For health and safety reasons, access is by specific arrangement only.

As visitors, please note you’re responsible for your own health and safety. Stay on the tracks, be careful around electric fences, traps and streams, and take care of our precious bush.

Here’s a chant for Waikereru, composed by Merimeri Penfold:

News

2024

Stockyard Creek 20 years on

This video shows how important it is to have some woody debris in streams and rivers - just not the huge rafts we’ve been getting from forestry operations up...

New Pest and Weed Management Plans

We now have two excellent new plans for pest and weed control at Waikereru, by Steve Sawyer from Ecoworks and Marley Ford from Manaaki Whenua. With experts ...

Waikereru in 1988

Check out this historic image of Waikereru in 1988, bare as a baby’s bottom - except of course for Longbush Reserve alongside the Waimatā River.

Pest Free NZ Workshop

It was great to welcome Pest Free NZ and their ‘state-of-the-art’ trapping workshop to Waikereru.

Te Wharau School visit

Te Wharau school students standing on Pā Hill and looking at Motukeo, ancestral mountain and leaping off place of spirits.

Waikereru on Restor

Waikereru has been added to the Restor online map of international restoration projects. Restor is an exciting global project that records data from ecologi...

Inspiring TED talk

Check out this inspiring Ted Talk about how indigenous forest restoration can help us save the future for our children and grandchildren.

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2023

Carnivorous snail found!

Extremely rare carnivorous snail found at Waikereru: our eagle-eyed ecologist/trapper Guido spotted this very rare indigenous snail up in the hills, the firs...

Waimatā catchment devastated

The start to 2023 has been a nightmare, with Cyclone Hale in January bringing forestry slash down the river, and Cyclone Gabrielle in February blocking the r...

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