About our People and Land

Guardianship

Kaitiakitanga

[pronounced ky-tee-ah-kee-tunga-a]

Kaitiakitanga means guardianship, protection or preservation. Māori believe that there is a deep relationship between people and the natural world. Customary Māori practices maintain balance between nature and our people, ensuring that resources are managed sustainably, minimising any impact on the environment.

For us here at Whakarewarewa – The Living Māori Village, we recognise that we all, residents and visitors alike, have a responsibility to be kaitiaki (guardian) of our surrounding. For us, this means acting responsibly and looking after our natural resources and practicing sustainable initiatives and this extends to our endeavours to preserve our culture, including how we use traditional practices in the modern world. It is our hope that the practice of Kaitiakitanga will allow Māori and non-Māori alike to reflect on the notion of kinship with nature, and how this idea might be useful in an environmentally threatened world.

When you visit our home here at Whakarewarewa – The Living Māori Village you will get a first-hand insight into kaitiakitanga. On our guided tour, you’ll hear the passion with which our guides speak about their home, their environment, their culture and history. You’ll learn how Whakarewarewa’s residents, the Tūhorangi Ngāti Wāhiao people, utilise Mother Nature’s precious resources to cook, clean and bathe and how, in doing so, we, minimise our impact on the environment.

At a more practical business level, we try to actively reduce any adverse effects on our environment and community, both here in New Zealand, and globally, through buying wisely, using resources efficiently, disposing of waste responsibly, and providing an environmentally and socially responsible experience to our visitors.

We are always looking for ways to reduce any adverse effects on our environment and contribute positively to our community, so we welcome your comments and any suggestion you may have on ways we can help reduce our impact on the environment. Please email us here.

For us, we feel privileged that, by opening our home, we can share our unique, abundant and beautiful environment with our visitors. For us, it’s paramount that we preserve the natural beauty of our home in order that our future generations may enjoy it as we do today.

We invite you to come and enjoy all of which we have to share.

Kia ora.