Tourism That Gives Back

Eco Adventures Wānaka & Natural Habitat Adventures Protecting Buff Weka on Mou Waho Island

For over 20 years, Eco Adventures Wānaka has been giving back to Mou Waho Island by planting native trees on every trip, helping restore the island’s forest cover and biodiversity. However, protecting this special place and its wild inhabitants takes more than planting — it requires vigilance. Preventing invasive predators from reaching the island is vital to its future.

Mou Waho is a predator-free sanctuary in the heart of Lake Wānaka, home to the rare and endangered Buff Weka. The Buff Weka is a subspecies that survives only here on Aotearoa's mainland. These vulnerable, flightless birds and their nests are easy victims when stoats gain access to their habitat. Keeping Mou Waho protected from stoats (an enterprising member of the weasel family that can swim across the lake), is essential to the Buff Weka's survival. 

Thanks to the generous support of Natural Habitat Adventures — a North American company that brings conservation-minded travellers to Aotearoa and partners with Eco Adventures Wānaka as its local guide—funding is now in place to procure new real-time predator-detection cameras! The new technology was identified as a ‘high priority’ by the local Department of Conservation office in Wānaka. It will greatly strengthen the island’s defences by enabling faster response to any intruders!

This partnership is a powerful example of tourism working on nature’s behalf. When travellers choose local operators who care deeply about the land, their journeys help advance Aotearoa's Predator Free 2050 vision and protect what makes this country so unique!

When travel and conservation work hand in hand, nature truly benefits.