maori tours in kaikoura, new zealand

Learn about Maori traditions & herbal use of native bush by local Maori

Maurice greets a visitor with traditional hongi (soft pressing of noses)- Photos from Maori Tours

Herbal medicines and family history combine to provide one of the great tourist (boutique) ventures in Kaikoura, New Zealand. Maori Tours takes guests sightseeing, tracing local and family history and a bush walk to explore the medicinal properties of the native trees and bush.

“Most of, the remedies possess validity,” says Dr. Raymond Stark in his book, MAORI HERBAL REMEDIES(1979). Over the years, trial, success and failure honed the skills to treat various illnesses, along with appropriate karakia (prayers). In pre European days, the tohunga (priest) held the knowledge of the remedies; today others have that knowledge. Early settlers found many worthwhile uses for Maori herbal medicines: aching joints, headaches, constipation and dysentery, to name just a few.

800-year old rimu tree

read more about Maori medicines and herbs