Matariki night walk to check on kiwi

DARK OPS: General manager Helen Tickner (left), Josh Foster, Jane Griffith and Laura Saba, part of the team at Pukaha Mt Bruce.

The call of the wild will become a reality for people who sign up to join a new venture at Pukaha Mt Bruce tomorrow.

The National Wildlife Centre is staging a Matariki night, which includes a night walk through the reserve, listening for the call of the kiwi.

The event is the brainchild of visitor experience supervisor Laura Saba and marks an innovation for Pukaha. General manager Helen Tickner said the evening would start at 6pm with a welcome and meal, being a pork and puha stew with gourmet breads, followed by the night walk and nocturnal feeding of eels.

At the end of the walk, the group will assemble at the centre for a range of activities and, weather permitting, people will go outside to view the cluster of stars known as Matariki or the Pleiades, which to Maori signals the arrival of the new year.

Mrs Tickner said enough people had signed on already to ensure the success of the night but places are still open.

The cost of the Matariki experience is $35 for adults and there is a special deal of $100 for a family of two adults and two children.

Mrs Tickner said the plan was for Pukaha to "slowly ease into staging more night events".

At this time of year, the night calling of kiwi is at its best, as it is mating season.

Pukaha staff believe there could be up to 200 kiwi living in the reserve.

They keep tabs on 11 male kiwi by using tracing devices. Pukaha hatches about 20 eggs a year through its nursery.

The 200 estimate is partly based on the ongoing predator control success.

The night experience was expected to take about two and a half hours, Mrs Tickner said.