Enjoying the Maori Culture

I thought I should maybe include a NZ map so you can see where I was.









While we were enjoying the geysers at Rotorua, they also have a kiwi house and a Maori culture center!
We visited the kiwi house and were lucky enough to have the kiwi bird awake and moving around. Like so many of the birds and animals "Down Under", kiwi birds are nocturnal! They enclosure it was in was very dark, therefore no photos!









Kiwis are very endangered! If the egg is left in the wild to hatch it only has a 3% chance of surviving! NZ has a program in progress using some electronic system they know when an egg is hatched and they retrieve it and incubate it. Using this system the survival rate is increased to 66%. A vast improvement.








The welcoming center where the upright pillars, reaching to the sky, welcoming the gods.

















They have built a replica of a Maori village







The Maori princess welcomes us





The Maori warrior











Like our totem poles

















They have a carving school here for the natives who want to continue with this art in the current generation.





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