Kaikoura - New Zealand’s wildlife capital

Kaikoura is definitely one of the highlights when visiting New Zealand’s South Island. Not only is it surrounded by spectacularly beautiful nature and scenery, it’s also New Zealands whale watching capital and an Eldorado for marine wildlife enthusiasts. The small seaside town has become New Zealand’s leading nature tourism destinations. Even walking through town you will immediately see that this place is all about nature and wildlife.

While resident sperm whales are the main attraction in the waters around Kaikoura, other cetaceous visitors to this coast include the humpback, minke, blue, fin, sei, killer, beaked and pilot whales.

How to get to Kaikoura and where to stay

Kaikoura is easily accessible by car or bus, since it’s situated on the SH1 coastal road. Coming from Christchurch you’ll have a beautiful 2 hour drive along the coast through Waipara wine valley and Cheviot. Coming from Wellington, you’ll take the ferry to Picton and drive south on the SH1 until reaching the Kaikoura Peninsula.

Kaikoura has a lot of choice in accommodation, from camp sites to luxury hotel, you will find everything. Being such a gem it’s becoming more and more popular and accommodations fill up quickly during high season.

Whale Watching

One of the reasons Kaikoura is such a good whale watching destination is a large submarine canyon right off the coast of the Kaikoura Peninsula. The canyon is about 60 km long and up to 1200 m (4,000 ft) deep and therefore providing optimal hunting conditions for Sperm whales and other marine wildlife. Next to Andenes in Norway and Húsavík in Iceland Kaikoura is one of the best places in the world to watch the majestic Sperm Whale.

I booked a tour with Whale Watch Kaikoura, which used to be and I believe still is the only whale watching company in Kaikoura. They have middle sized fast boats getting you where you want to be…next to the whales. On the way out to the open ocean keep a look out for Albatrosses and other birds. First of all they are a good sign that whales are close by and second they always provide great photo opportunities.

Sperm whales are rather easy to find compared to other whales, not only due to their enormous size, but also because they spend a very long time at the surface, resting before their next dive. They can dive for more than an hour to depths greater than 1,200m (4,000 ft) and in order to hold their breath that long they spend usually 10-15 min. at the surface resting and breathing. This is a great opportunity to see them up close and in their entire size which can be up to 20 m.

Once they start moving you know they are preparing to dive and that’s when you get to see their majestic fluke. During the entire time we were watching one whale after the other preparing for it’s long dive the staff on board gave us lots of information on their behavior, their food sources, their numbers and so on.

All in all we saw 6 or 7 sperm whales which according to our guide was a very good number. They do have exceptional good chances of spotting sperm whales in these waters, but not always do you get such a high amount of whales since they don’t usually travel in pods.

Heading back from the open ocean we then encountered a pod of dusky dolphins following our boat and jumping all around us. It was a great end to an already quite spectacular whale watching trip.

There is also tours that offer swimming with these adorable wild dolphins. I however decided not to do that, since I got quite a good view from the boat anyways.

Point Kean Seal Colony

There are also organized tours to see or even swim with seals around Kaikoura, however there is an even easier way to see seals. A lot of visitors don’t know that there is an entire seal colony along a nice and scenic trail in walking distance of the township. You either take a car and drive a short 4km or you start walking directly from Kaikoura. It’s a beautiful coastal walk and you have views on the mountains and the the town itself. Once you you reach the seal colony you will find yourself in the midst of half sleeping and half awake seals.

You are advised to be respectful and keep a distance of min. 10 meters. I am not sure if they are just extremely relaxed animals or if they are just so used to being around humans, but it was an absolute pleasure walking around the coast and watching them relax in the sun.

There is tons of trails around Kaikoura, but I’d say the seal colony alone makes this one the absolut best one. At one point I just sat down, taking my time to watch their natural behavior and their way to relax.

Kaikoura is definitely one of New Zealand’s gems and should not be missing on any road trip!