Kororā

Little Penguins (Kororā in Māori) have held a place close to Sam Farmer’s heart for more years than he can remember.  He even has one tattooed onto his calf!  

Standing an average of only 33cm, they are the smallest species of penguin.  And yet, they can waddle up near-vertical slopes for up to 200 metres before they’ll decide upon the real estate where they’ll raise their offspring and to which they’ll return over many years.  Despite human objection, they will cross roads, settle under fish and chip shops, argue under your main bedroom, and even add flavour to the odour of your outdoor toilet if they got there first.  

To Sam, despite their size, their uniquely determined and persevering, noisy and social (when they want to be) characters represent some of the core qualities necessary for survival in our world today.

So whilst tramping the Banks Track in 2021, you can imagine Sam’s great excitement when he discovered that Shireen and Francis Helps of Pōhatu Tours offered an early evening’s tour of the Kororā Colony (specific genus: Eudyptula albosignata, or White-Flippered penguin – cousin of the famous Little Blue Penguin/ Eudyptula Minor). 

They have been steadily re-building the colony over the years.  What is more, Shireen and Francis do a lot of this nationally essential conservation work as an unfunded sideline to the regular jobs that they provide with the rest of their team (namely, tours, safaris and farm-stays).