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Trees That Count

Restoring our native forests

As part of our commitment to ‘travel for good’, Southern Crossings is proud to partner with Trees That Count, a reforestation charity engaging with locals to plant and restore native forests across Aotearoa New Zealand. Responsible Tourism in action.

New Zealand is a nation rich in forests and our geographical isolation means that we have some of the most unique flora in the world. In Northland we have the forests full of kauri, one of the world’s largest trees, some of which are so huge they even have their own names such as the famous ‘Tane Mahuta, God of the Forest’. At the other end of the country in Southland you’ll find ancient Gondwana-era rainforests that are so pristine they have garnered UNESCO World Heritage status. We even have vast ‘underwater forests’ of kelp found only in New Zealand waters. 

Even though most of our forests are protected through national and regional parks, this is no longer enough to see them through. Diseases such as the kauri dieback are devastating even the largest of trees, opportunistic loggers conduct overnight raids for high priced lumber, and extreme weather events can flatten an entire forest in one go. 

Hiking track through ferns in New Zealand
Northland

To help turn the tide on deforestation and encourage travel for good, Southern Crossings has partnered with Trees That Count. Through this charity we donate trees to various projects that Trees That Count coordinates via their vast network of local planters. 

Our first Trees that Count donation went to Tairawhiti, the East Cape of the North Island near Gisborne. Here we donated 50 native trees. These trees supported the Tairawhiti Ngutukaka reforestation project which aims to recover ngutukaka plants, more commonly known as kakabeak. At one stage, there were just 100 of these plants left in the wild, but today the Tairawhiti Ngutukaka project aims not just to plant thousands more, but to provide ongoing care so they survive and thrive.  

Click here to learn more about Trees That Count.

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All details provided by you will be held by Southern Crossings and used in accordance with our privacy policy

We'd love to hear about your dream holiday.