Ka Ora Te Tangata

Reconnect

Project Hīkoi — A Māori-led maunga experience for every manuhiri

Goal: Ka Ora Te Tangata — Reconnect

Location: Tauhara Middle 15, Tauhara Maunga summit track

Lead Partners: Tauhara Middle 15 Trust and Te Mana o Tauhara Trust

Status: Stage 1 complete, Stage 2 underway

Tauhara Maunga draws more than 50,000 manuhiri a year, but until now the track has been unmanaged and the stories of this tīpuna maunga untold. Project Hīkoi is turning the summit walk into a Māori-led visitor experience, guiding manuhiri from passers-through into informed and respectful guests.

Stage 1 delivered a new 2.1km low-impact track, a viewing platform at the bushline, slope stabilisation, and a track counter now recording real visitor numbers, already showing 8,000 visitors in the first 10 weeks, with 400 on a single public holiday.

[Read the full Project Hīkoi case study →]

Image: New walking track (2026)

Tauhara Maunga draws more than 50,000 manuhiri each year, already listed as a must-do hike just 10 minutes from Taupō township. Yet until now the track has been unmanaged, the stories untold, and visitors have arrived with no cultural context for this tīpuna maunga.

Te Mana o Tauhara and Tauhara Middle 15 Trust are creating a Māori-led maunga visitor experience that shifts manuhiri from passers-through into informed and respectful guests. Project Hīkoi Stage 1 is the first tangible step in that vision, delivered on the retired farmland of Tauhara Middle 15.

What's been delivered:

A 2.1km low-impact walking track, pumice-surfaced
A viewing platform at the bushline, with seated volcanic rock to pause and take in one of the best views in the region
Native plantings around the bushline, part of a wider planting effort now exceeding 18,000 native stems across the Trust's restoration mahi
Rock walls for slope stability, protecting the plantings and the track corridor
A track counter recording real visitor numbers for the first time
New signage at the trailhead, including a QR code linking to the Trust's online koha and donations platform

Since the track opened, we've welcomed 8,000 visitors in the first 10 weeks, with a peak of 400 people on a single public holiday, our first real evidence of just how many people are walking this maunga, and a foundation for everything that comes next.

A member of the community even gifted their own time and skill to carve a new hīkoi trail sign, a small but telling sign of the manaakitanga this project has drawn out of people.

Looking ahead, Stage 2 aims to bring a fully accessible toilet facility and water fountain to the site. As the track counter builds a fuller picture of visitor demand, that data will help shape a longer-term Māori-led visitor experience, one that can help fund the restoration mahi it sits alongside.

Ngā mihi to our project supporters and funders: Nankervis Estate, Taupō District Council and Empel Construction.

Key Stats

2.1km
low-impact pumice walking track completed
50,000+
manuhiri visit Tauhara Maunga every year
8,000
visitors in the new track's first 10 weeks
400
visitors on our busiest public holiday
3
funding partners and collaborators backing this kaupapa
100+
volunteers at our Opening Day

Matariki ki te Maunga — Welcoming in the Māori new year

Goal
Ka Ora Te Tangata — Reconnect

Location
Mountain Road, Tauhara Maunga

Lead Partners

Tauhara Middle 15 Trust and Te Mana o Tauhara Trust

Annual Matariki celebrationa returning uri, rangatahi, and hāpori to Tauhara Maunga each year, so the connection between people and place is restored alongside the taiao.

Matariki ki te Maunga is an annual celebration returning uri and hāpori to Tauhara Maunga at the most significant time of the Māori calendar. Planting is part of it, but the heart of the event is something deeper: opening the maunga to the people it belongs to, and creating the conditions for connection, ceremony, and community to take root alongside every tree.

Each event begins before dawn. A whangai te hautapu ceremony, led by mana whenua and supported by Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Whakarewarewa ki Tūwharetoa, gathers participants on the whenua as the sun rises, grounding the day in the reo, tikanga, and whakapapa of Tūwharetoa.

The event is made possible through the collective contributions of our Project Sponsors and Funders who lead the setup and delivery on the ground. Cultural stalls and activations by partner organisations extend the learning beyond planting, connecting participants to the wider taiao and kaupapa.

Ten school buses were provided to ensure rangatahi and kura from across the Taupō district could attend, removing access as a barrier to participation.

Between 2024 and 2025, four events were held across two Matariki seasons, welcoming more than 1,000 participants from over 40 kura, kōhanga, and hāpori groups.

Ngā mihi to our Project Supporters and Funders: Tauhara North Partnership Ltd, Tauhara Mountain Trust, He Akina, Tūwharetoa Settlement Trust, Tūtewha Marae, Ngā Mahi Kaha, Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board, Ngā Kaihautu, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Whakarewarewa ki Tūwharetoa, Greening Taupō, Kids Greening Taupō, Project Tongariro, Waikato Regional Council, Mercury Energy, and Epro Ltd.