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The most comprehensive bird-watching, nature & ecological tour and travel service for our region. New Zealand and the South Pacific.

New Zealand BirdsAt Kiwi Wildlife Tours we’re confident we offer the most comprehensive service for birdwatchers offered by any birding or nature tour company to see NZ’s special birds.
Our very experienced leaders have intimate knowledge of the whole country. We make frequent trips into the field as guides and tour leaders as well as researching new locations. Our excellent network of contacts throughout NZ ensures we have the most up-to-date information about NZ’s special birds and where to find them. Our policy is to make sure visitors enjoy our country, and while birds (and birding) may be the focus, there is a great deal to see and experience besides. 

We focus on your specific needs whether you are interested in tours or our self-drive advisory service. In many ways, getting the birds is the easy part (it comes naturally to us). Handling logistics and accommodation, and your special needs, requires other skills, and we have proven time and again with many satisfied clients that we have those skills.New Zealand, the South Pacific Islands are very popular and safe destinations, and as birding and wildlife specialists we aim to ensure your visit to this beautiful part of the world is an experience of a lifetime.The full range of services we offer for birding, nature & wildlife travel within our region are: 
Scheduled tour departures for New Zealand, NZ’s Subantarctic Islands & the South PacificTahiti, Fiji and New Caledonia). See Our Tours for our full New Zealand, Pacific Islands tour programme. 

Custom tours for individuals, couples and small groups throughout our region. Contact us for more details.

We can arrange accommodation close to Auckland which lets you start a NZ birding holiday with a mix of a relaxed atmosphere (a chance to unwind from the international flight), a kauri forest setting with native owls at night, fine 
food and plenty of local birding hotspots for guided or self-drive excursions. 

Itinerary planning for free & independent travelellers (FIT), for birders, and those interested in New Zealand’s natural world. Self-drive packages.Want to explore New Zealand yourselves following an itinerary that best suits your interests? Make sure you get to the best places to find New Zealand’s special birds and wildlife? Guided tours are not for you? Then our programme for free & independent travelers is just what you’re looking for. NZ couldn’t be easier! To find out more about our services – click here. 

Rock Wren (Adam Scott Kennedy)

Falcon (Adam Scott Kennedy)

South Is Oystercatchers (Dean Schuler)
TOURING WITH KIWI WILDLIFE TOURS NZ 

Running successful birding & nature tours since 1997 – experience counts!Please note most the photos appearing on our website have been taken by tour participants, not tour leaders. Our aim is to make sure you get to see our special birds, to experience them in a variety of habitats. The photos reflect the success of our approach.

Some quotes from tour participants and FIT clients:“We want you to know how much we enjoyed our NZ Tour. You are the best ‘team’ leaders we have had and you treated each one of us individually to maximize our experiences. It was a pleasure to get to know you” Judy & Lyall (US)

 “Many, many thanks for a wonderful trip. It will be a special memory for a long, long time. The birding was fantastic, accommodations superior and food delicious.” Penny & Allen (Bermuda)

 “You two rank #1 as tour leaders for me – working well together, handling the unexpected in your unflappable way, sharing your depth of knowledge of NZ. It was truly a memorable trip.” Nancy (US)

 “Thanks so much for your patient introduction to an ignoramus!” Bill (Aus)

 “I had a wonderful time and really appreciate all the time and energy that you folks put into the planning and conducting of the tour.  The accommodations and food were the best I have ever experienced on a tour, and the experiences were really great.” Phyllis (US)

“Valerie and I want to thank you both for organising an excellent trip which we enjoyed tremendously. Everything went smoothly, the 2 or so little hiccups we encountered were sorted very quickly and we thank you for that, all the places we stayed were very nice.”Val & Barry UK

“Thanks to everyone at Kiwi Wildlife for a most wonderful trip.  We fell deeply in love with your country and only left because we more or less had to.  As our guide, we couldn’t have asked for better than Derek, who made everything work for us and knows the answers to our innumerable questions on subjects large and small and whom we just plain adopted as a friend and fine companion. Thank you for all your attention both before and during our super trip.” Wendy, Elane, Rich & Ron, USA

“Just wanted to report back after our wonderful trip. Pretty much everything worked really well, and the weather was kind to us (except in the Bay of Islands!). It’s hard to pick out the highlights, as the whole trip was so good. Your birding maps are excellent: we found the birds exactly where they should be! Thanks again for arranging such a terrific trip – and please thank Sally for us as well.” Alison & John, Australia 

“I just wanted to say thank you for the arrangements you made for me during those few days in New Zealand before I set off for Japan. They were perfect – the arrangements that is; hotels , cars, site guides. Hope to bump into you again one of these days. Once again, many many thanks , you did me proud.” John UK

“Chris, A quick note to thank you for all your help with our recent NZ trip, although it seems so very long ago! We loved traveling through NZ and you certainly helped us get a tremendous amount of in to a short period of time.” John & Jannie USA 

“Many thanks for the 2007 “New Zealand Tour for Full-On Birders” That was a trip of a lifetime for me.” David USA

“Chris. Thank you for organizing a GREAT TRIP!!!  I really enjoyed seeing NZ again, and I enjoyed all the new birds. It is apparent that you put a tremendous amount of effort into planning this trip.  And I am grateful to you.” Dennis USA (after the April 2007 New Zealand Tour for Full-On Birders)


Established in 1995 by Chris Gaskin, NATURAL LINES Interpretation Planning & Design Ltd has specialised in designing exhibits and displays for museums, visitor centres and outdoor interpretive facilities; also producing artwork and educational resources for wide variety of natural and cultural history projects throughout New Zealand. On 31 March 2007 NATURAL LINES was merged with KIWI WILDLIFE TOURS Ltd. For all future interpretation projects Chris will be trading under the name NATURAL LINES CONSULTANCY. Our tours and seabird pelagics will continue through Kiwi Wildlife Tours and Pterodroma Pelagics NZ.

What are we working on right now? Designing the displays for the new Tiritiri Matangi Visitor Centre (with Paradigm Design).
What’s next? Chris has been commissioned to prepare illustrations for two fossil booklets that will support the major New Zealand touring exhibition Fossil Hunting in NZ opening October 2007 in Taranaki. This is a project for GNS Science. See more of Chris’sfossil reconstruction work, and read about Natural Lines Consultancy activities.

PTERODROMA PELAGICS is a Kiwi Wildlife subsidiary specialising in NZ pelagics (seabird tours) with
regular scheduled trips in northern New Zealand – the Hauraki Gulf and Far North of the North Island. Our NZ Seabird Expeditions programme explores NZ’s oceanic setting with some unique seabird itineraries.For further information and bookings.


NZ Storm Petrel – Hadoram Shirihai © Tubenoses Project, A & C BlackGrey ternlets – Ian SoutheyCampbell Albatross – Kim Westerskov
Contact Kiwi Wildlife Tours

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