The giant trunk
Branchless and pale.
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Tāne Mahuta, «Lord of the Forest», is a giant kauri tree in the Waipoua Forest of northern New Zealand. A broad pale-grey trunk rises straight with no branches, then spreads at the top into huge limbs covered in plants, ringed by dense fern forest. Its age is unknown and estimated at 1,250 to 2,500 years; it is the largest living kauri tree known. It is named after Tāne, the Māori god of forests and birds, and is a remnant of the ancient subtropical rainforest that once covered the Northland peninsula. It was identified in 1924 when the forest road was surveyed. Since 2018 it has been threatened by kauri dieback, and the conservation department has a plan to protect it. You walk a few minutes along a boardwalk from the roadside car park to a platform in front of the tree. Another great kauri, Te Matua Ngahere, stands nearby. It is about 49 km in a straight line northwest of Dargaville. Clean your shoes at the cleaning stations and stay on the boardwalk; it protects the trees from disease.
Branchless and pale.
Through the forest.
Nearby.
Waipoua Forest, State Highway 12, Northland
A few minutes from the car park.
To stop kauri dieback spreading.