Sustainability, conservation, adventure immersed in nature is everything that Rotorua Canopy Tours offers and is everything that Lucidkiwi stands for. When I heard about their latest experience it was an absolute no-brainer to pop over to Rotorua and give it a go. Rotorua Canopy Tours is a popular tourism company that gives back to the environment through every person that walks through the door. It has become so popular over the past few years that they had to open a new experience to cater to the demand. Which also means more towards conservation.
As soon as I arrived at the main base in Rotorua we were greeted with a warm and friendly welcome by all the stuff involved who went out of their way to help us and make sure that we had everything we needed to be the best prepared. Being the middle of the winter it was super cold, cold enough to put a hoodie on a say ‘she will be alright’. But the tours guides insisted we should be wearing more clothes which I later found out to be right.
The tour guides, Cheynne and Shane begin by saddling us up into some harnesses and clipping on some carabineers. They begin to run over a few things about the tour, what to expect and some basic housekeeping before we hope in the van for a short drive to the edge of some Ancient New Zealand Forest where the tour officially begins.
As soon as you walk in you are taken back by the beauty and the greenery of the New Zealand Native. Walking through the forest the guides pause a few times to give you some key information about the forest, its history and how it has ended up being what it is today. After winding our way through the forest, we come to the first spiral staircase. which wraps itself around a large meadow tree where our first Zipline begins.
Once at the top you are clipped onto the wire rope which spans out into the canopy, you cannot see exactly where it leads but it looks like a good time. As you launch off the platform for your first zip line you are gliding through the canopy of one of the most beautiful pieces of nature in the world.
Once on the other side and with the first zip line under your belt we are then lead through the forest and onto a few more zip lines which are equally epic but seem to get bigger and bigger until we reach the old rocky knob. The name says it all a bit of a ‘Rocky Knob’ the exposes itself from the edge of a cliff. Which we intern walk around. Clipped on to the side as you walk around standing above a valley which would mean death if you feel gets the blood pumping, such a unique experience.
Next up was my highlights a huge 400-metre zip line which literally goes off so far into the distance, followed by an epic swing bridge that spans out over a valley of trees. Of course, the tour is not over and is followed up by more walking through the epic rainforest and more zip lines. So dope!
We reach apart of the tour which makes me so happy, a piece where one of the tour guides, Shane talks about the conservation that Rotorua Canopy Tours are doing, and how economically viable and sustainable their efforts are through some trial and error. From every tour that comes through a % of the prices goes towards the conservation efforts that we seen first-hand as we walked through the forest.
The final stretch is one last zip line followed by an epic abseil down into the fern tops before a peaceful walk back to the starting point and the van. The tour was not the only epic in terms of adventure, getting up close and personal with New Zeeland’s native side but also the conservation act.
Check out my Youtube video of the experience here
If you are looking for something totally unique, something to get the blood pumping and something that will get your karma points up with mother nature, make sure you give Rotorua Canopy Tours a crack when you are in New Zealand.