Fiordland National Park
Fiordland National Park is New Zealand's largest at over 1.2 million hectares making it also one of the largest in the world. As its name suggest fiord's dominate the coastline with 14 fiord's spread along its coastline, some stretching as far as 40 km inland.
These fiord's and valleys were carved by glaciers over 2 million years ago. When the last period of glaciation ended 15,000 years ago the ice melted leaving behind the large fiord's and valleys that can be seen today.
The land was reserved in 1904 and became a National Park in 1952. The park is home to New Zealand's deepest lake (Lake Hauroko), highest waterfall and also has the highest rainfall (7600mm per year in parts) in NZ.
The large diversity of habitats in Fiordland National Park results in the large variety of fauna and flora that can be found in the park. Over 700 plants are found only in Fiordland and is home to some of the New Zealand's most unique birds, the Takahe for example is a small flightless rail found in its natural environment only in fiordland.
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