This operator purports to have a more than 90% success rate "seeing" the elusive nocturnal kiwi bird, and I had high hopes of being among the lucky few.

I was initially taken aback by the guide (we had Mike, not the owner Ian) since he was a little smarmy and patronizing and spoke contemptuously of a group he had guided a few days earlier who were not sufficiently quiet or patient and therefore "didn't deserve to see a kiwi bird". That certainly put us in our place! Our group was very obedient, quiet, responsive, incredibly patient, and yet..... Yes, technically, we actually "saw" a kiwi bird, so I'm guessing our experience contributed to Okarito Kiwi Tours' high success rate, BUT… our sighting consisted of a fleeting glimpse of an unidentifiable hopping creature caught momentarily in a red spotlight. Just as my brain registered that this was perhaps a rabbit, the creature vanished into the bush. Our guide (Mike) asked each of us in turn (7 paying customers in all) "Did you see the kiwi?" "Did you see the kiwi?" Did you see the kiwi?, Etc. In good conscience we each answered "yes". After all we had seen "something", and we had no reason to doubt that the something had been a kiwi since our guide was carrying an antenna tuned to a transmitter fastened to the kiwi. Apparently, these admissions were sufficient to satisfy Mike's professional conscience, as he called the evening a wrap. In fairness, we had "seen" a kiwi, but I would be misrepresenting the facts if I told anyone else I had "seen" a kiwi. This tour was a disappointing use of $150, the most disappointing that my husband and I spent on our otherwise fabulous 24 day trip through New Zealand's South Island. However, our stop in Okarito was more than compensated for the next morning, when we went for a 2-hour kayak excursion on Okarito Lagoon with Okarito Kayaks. Okarito Kiwi Tours is lucky there is another operator in town able to salvage Okarito's reputation.

Reviewed over 6 years ago