Kahurangi National Park

Kahurangi National Park spans the northwest of New Zealand's South Island, from the Buller River near Murchison south to Farewell Spit in Golden Bay. Established in 1996, it is the second largest of the country's national parks at about 5,193 square kilometers, encompassing mountain ranges, rivers, gorges, and extensive karst cave systems. Having served as a Pleistocene ice age refuge, the park holds unusually high rates of endemism, protecting around 80 percent of New Zealand's alpine plant species, some 18 endemic bird species, and more than half of the country's native plant species.