Pōhatu Penguins/plunge

Pōhatu Penguins/plunge Pōhatu Penguins offers many tour options to see and experience the largest colony of Little penguin

Pōhatu Penguins is a family- owned and operated eco- tourism business with 30+ years history of advocating and helping to fund the protection of Kororā (Little Penguin) on the family farm in Pōhatu/Flea Bay. Our guides are all conservationists, friends and family - with years of working in penguin conservation, a passion for sharing their stories and a wealth of local knowledge passed down several

generations. When the Helps family first began their conservation work the penguins faced massive challenges that threatened their very existence. These challenges included predation via introduced predators such as dogs, cats, ferrets and stoats, gill net fishing and other human disturbances. Colonies around Banks Peninsula declined at an alarming rate and most disappeared altogether. Through predator trapping, monitoring, rehabilitation and immense dedication the family has stabilized the Pōhatu colony and it grew for many years to become the largest of its kind on mainland New Zealand! In addition to their penguin conservation work the Helps family have also, for many years, protected native forests and other endemic species. Their work helped found the award-winning Wildside Conservation Project. To this day, the family continues to be leader in conservation and have recently received the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of their work. Their efforts continue to be funded via Pōhatu Penguins’ tours so when purchasing a tour, clients have a positive input on our little Kororā. Small group tours run from Akaroa over one of the most scenic back country roads by 4WD van to Pōhatu/ Flea Bay and Pōhatu marine reserve, a beautiful sheltered bay out on the wild south eastern corner of Banks Peninsula and home to the largest Little Penguin Colony on mainland New Zealand with over 1500 penguins breeding there.

06/02/2025

📽 Learn all about our Adopt a Penguin programme and how your support can make a big difference to the little penguins in our Pōhatu colony. 🐧

05/02/2025

SeaWeek is back for 2025 and we are excited to celebrate with our Fair and Variety Show!

Join us as we celebrate connecting with our seas - Toi Moana - Toi Tanganta

🌊 Where: Akaroa Gaiety Hall
🌊 When: 1st March 2025.
🌊 Time: Fair Starts at 1 pm - 7 pm. Variety Show starts at 4 pm.
🌊 Free community event - all welcome

Nothing says 'I Love You' quite like adopting a penguin for your special someone! Give a meaningful and unique gift this...
03/02/2025

Nothing says 'I Love You' quite like adopting a penguin for your special someone!

Give a meaningful and unique gift this Valentine's Day - and help protect our little penguins. Adopting a penguin in the Pōhatu colony is like a sponsorship, a donation towards our charity “Helps Pōhatu Conservation Trust” which goes towards:

🐧 Nesting box materials for penguins and other native wildlife
🐧 Penguin Rehabilitation: Penguin food, Vet bills, Rehabilitation facility maintenance.
🐧 Predator control: Materials and maintenance, Trappers wage.
🐧 Reforestation of Pohatu’s covenants, Protected zones, Planting trees and track building.
🐧 Research projects.
🐧 Education for school groups.
🐧 Staff training, e.g. trapping workshops, penguin symposium, rehabilitation workshops.

In exchange, you will receive a photo of the nesting box with the name you have chosen on it, receive updates (on demand) and a newsletter at each season.

Because you are donating to a registered charity, you will receive a tax rebate for your donation. Find out more and start your adoption here - http://tinyurl.com/5w8225ff

📸 = Kaitlin Bowe Photography

Last night’s beautiful sunset 🌅 captured by the team after our Evening Tour. 🐧
02/02/2025

Last night’s beautiful sunset 🌅 captured by the team after our Evening Tour. 🐧

A few favourites from the camera roll - out and about on our recent tours! 📸
30/01/2025

A few favourites from the camera roll - out and about on our recent tours! 📸

Our sea-kayaking safari tours are a wonderful way to learn all about the incredible marine birds and wildlife that can b...
29/01/2025

Our sea-kayaking safari tours are a wonderful way to learn all about the incredible marine birds and wildlife that can be found around Pōhatu bay and Banks Peninsula. 🐧🦭🐬

Visit www.pohatu.co.nz to discover more about our group tours around Akaroa and the bays!

Pango is always such a help with our Sea Kayaking Safari tours! 🐑Our visitors get such joy out of seeing our cheeky Pōha...
27/01/2025

Pango is always such a help with our Sea Kayaking Safari tours! 🐑

Our visitors get such joy out of seeing our cheeky Pōhatu sheep getting involved in the day to day activities around the bay.

Welcome to Gotham City! This Pōhatu neighbourhood is proudly sponsored by the awesome team at Once Upon A Trip New Zeala...
22/01/2025

Welcome to Gotham City! This Pōhatu neighbourhood is proudly sponsored by the awesome team at Once Upon A Trip New Zealand! 🏠 🐧💙

Once Upon A Trip's adoption of 'Gotham City' has helped us provide nesting box materials for penguins and other native birds, penguin rehabilitation, penguin food, transport costs to the vet, and so much more!

We are so grateful for the wonderful support our Helps Pōhatu Conservation Trust receives from the local businesses. Their generous contributions go a long way towards the conservation work we are doing here in Pōhatu.

Say hello to these three little chicks we currently have in rehab - Nulla, Eddy Jr and tiny little Baz in the back. 🐧🐧🐧W...
21/01/2025

Say hello to these three little chicks we currently have in rehab - Nulla, Eddy Jr and tiny little Baz in the back. 🐧🐧🐧

We are very fortunate to have had a 10kg box of fish from the International Antarctic Centre donated to feed these guys during their stay in rehab. 💙

🐧 Happy Penguin Awareness Day from the Pōhatu team! 🐧Today, we’re celebrating our incredible little penguins and shine a...
19/01/2025

🐧 Happy Penguin Awareness Day from the Pōhatu team! 🐧

Today, we’re celebrating our incredible little penguins and shine a light on the vital conservation work we do to protect them. From habitat restoration to predator control, we’re dedicated to ensuring a bright future for these special birds. 🌿

Join us in raising awareness and learn how you can help protect penguin species around NZ and the world. Together, we can make a difference! 💙

📸 =

Summer in Pōhatu with these epic views that never get old! 💙We love introducing our visitors to our special part of New ...
19/01/2025

Summer in Pōhatu with these epic views that never get old! 💙

We love introducing our visitors to our special part of New Zealand, and look forward to welcoming guests from all around the world this year. 🌏

Like many small businesses around New Zealand, online reviews are really important to us. We always appreciate our guest...
18/01/2025

Like many small businesses around New Zealand, online reviews are really important to us. We always appreciate our guests taking the time to leave us a review across the different platforms - including this recent one from Trip Advisor:

"Brilliant- bucket list experience. Utterly fantastic tour. We did this with a 4 and 9 year old and Joey was an amazing guide and so informative. Kept all the kids fascinated and such wonderful wildlife. We did a few different penguin tours around nz and this was by far the clear best. Couldn’t recommend more highly and thank you for having us!"

It's been an action packed School Holiday Conservation Club with our awesome kids joining us here in Pōhatu earlier this...
16/01/2025

It's been an action packed School Holiday Conservation Club with our awesome kids joining us here in Pōhatu earlier this week!

Our group of younger kids met Vila, our Pōhatu trapper, who explained our predator traps, and they encountered Mrs Jellyman our resident long finned eel.

The kids also meet the funny Pōhatu sheep, made a new penguin neighbourhood, then monitored all the up hill far away nest boxes before heading off on a nature walk to check out the NZ fur seals. 🐧🐑🦭

Welcome to Neverland! This Pōhatu colony neighbourhood is proudly sponsored by the fantastic team at the NPD Akaroa Moto...
13/01/2025

Welcome to Neverland! This Pōhatu colony neighbourhood is proudly sponsored by the fantastic team at the NPD Akaroa Motor Garage! 🐧💙 🏠

By adopting 'Neverland', the Akaroa Motor Garage has helped us provide nesting box materials for penguins and other native birds, penguin rehabilitation, penguin food, transport costs to the vet, and so much more!

We are incredibly grateful for the wonderful support our Helps Pōhatu Conservation Trust receives from the local businesses around Akaroa. Their generous contributions go a long way towards the conservation work we are doing here in Pōhatu.

Our Pōhatu Evening Tours give our visitors a fantastic insight into the life of a penguin and the chance to see the bird...
11/01/2025

Our Pōhatu Evening Tours give our visitors a fantastic insight into the life of a penguin and the chance to see the birds up-close in their natural environment. 🐧

After a breathtaking scenic drive over Akaroa, with photo opportunities along the way, you will discover tranquil Pōhatu bay where you will set off for a walk around the colony to monitor our little penguin nesting sites.

With the later tours we have a likelihood to see some penguins returning to shore and relaxing on the rocks before heading to their nests.

Our friendly Pōhatu sheep always have time to stop for a cuddle! 🐑💙
08/01/2025

Our friendly Pōhatu sheep always have time to stop for a cuddle! 🐑💙

Our penguin Fairy garden is looking great! We have even made a cute little entrance for the garden penguins to go throug...
07/01/2025

Our penguin Fairy garden is looking great! We have even made a cute little entrance for the garden penguins to go through so they don't have to go under the gate anymore. 🐧

Most of the nest boxes have fledged the chicks already and now adults are starting to come in to molt in their fancy houses! 🏠

This month we introduce Flick and Flori, twin Babydoll Southdown ewes, and Cherilee just one of our beautiful Valais Bla...
03/01/2025

This month we introduce Flick and Flori, twin Babydoll Southdown ewes, and Cherilee just one of our beautiful Valais Blacknose lambs. 🐑🐏🐏

At Pōhatu we breed Babydoll Southdowns as well as Valais Blacknose sheep and all are ready to greet our visitors for a bit of fuss and a treat. All the lambs have been weaned now and the Mums have been locked into another paddock out of the way.

The Valais Blacknose lambs are looking really beautiful with their long flowing fleeces, but unfortunately we will need to shear them soon as their wool gets too long and tangled - however they grow wool so fast they won’t look naked for long.

In the meantime we can enjoy them looking just as beautiful as could be!

Address

Unit 3, 8 Rue Balguerie
Akaroa
7520

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 8pm
Tuesday 9am - 8pm
Wednesday 9am - 8pm
Thursday 9am - 8pm
Friday 9am - 8pm
Saturday 9am - 8pm
Sunday 9am - 8pm

Telephone

+6433048542

Website

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Videos

Adopt a Penguin Programme
Adopt a Penguin Programme

📽 Learn all about our Adopt a Penguin programme and how your support can make a big difference to the little penguins in our Pōhatu colony. 🐧

SeaWeek is back for 2024
SeaWeek is back for 2024

SeaWeek is back for 2025 and we are excited to celebrate with our Fair and Variety Show! Join us as we celebrate connecting with our seas - Toi Moana - Toi Tanganta 🌊 Where: Akaroa Gaiety Hall 🌊 When: 1st March 2025. 🌊 Time: Fair Starts at 1 pm - 7 pm. Variety Show starts at 4 pm. 🌊 Free community event - all welcome

We came across our dear wee Bubbles is fast asleep and couldnt help but stop and give here a tickle! 🐑

Check out our new penguin ramp! Here's Nulla trying to figure out how to use it, where as Blueberry instantly learnt the corner was the right spot to climb out. A very smart little penguin that one... Nulla though, needs a bit more practice. 💙

Our friendly Pōhatu sheep had fun hanging out with the Conservation Club kids last week and wanted to get in on the school holiday programme action. Nice hat! 🤠

It’s rehab bath time for Blueberry and Sudan Sivar! Swim therapy is super important once their blue feathers come in and we need to make sure they start preening. This means rubbing oil from a gland near their tail over their feathers to help with waterproofing - which is essential before they go to sea!

Most of our Pōhatu penguin colony has come in this week. Everyone is at different stages of the molt, something that happens every year when penguins need to replace their old feathers. Normally February is when the main bulk of molting penguins come in but it looks like they are a little early this season!

Grandma Shireen took the Pōhatu sheep to the Duvauchelle Show yesterday! Pango and Bubbles went walkies around the stalls meeting and greeting the locals. When the rain came down Shireen put their little rain coats on to keep them dry. We love our silly sheep and it seems the Duvauchelle community does too! Music: Glitter Blast Musician: Kevin MacLeod

Our newest residents in penguin rehab. This is Blue Berry at the front (very extroverted) and Sudar Sivan in the back (very feisty and grumpy). Blue Berry arrived to rehab on the 31st New Years Eve and Sudar Sivan arrived on New Years day. Both these guys were found under weight and malnourished. Blue Berry was wandering at large, what we call a walk about chick, trying to scab food from other nest box parents but failing. And Sudar was found with slight beak wounds, very under weight and a molting adult in their nest box. It wasn't their parent, we have a feeling they weren't coming back to feed little Sudar anymore. With the only a week or so to go before losing all the baby fluff and fledgling we thought to give them a second chance.

Remeber little Reshi? He was found last month shivering cold and exposed on one of our tracks away from his nest. He's been with Christchurch Penguin Rehab for the last 6 weeks and grown into a beautiful boy. Now Reshi is back in Pōhatu rocking an awesome mullet, plus a microchip in the back of his neck so we will be able to keep track of him if he starts nesting in the colony. A reminder that we are fully licensed and have a DOC permit to rehabilitate penguins here in Pōhatu. 🐧

Some of our crazy penguins seem to love nesting right next to the creek. Not ideal if we have a lot of rain and it floods. Let's hope we don't have any huge rainfall events in the middle of the penguin breeding season!

One stick just wasn't enough! These penguins must be the ultimate nest building champions with the amount of sticks they collected. What's more impressive is that there isn't any trees around the nest, so he must have carried the sticks up all the way up the hill!

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Our Story

Pohatu Penguins is a family-run business with a long standing history of protecting the Korora (Little Penguin). The colony survival is accredited to Shireen and Francis Helps who have cared for the penguins for 30+ years.

When the Helps first began their conservation work the penguins faced massive challenges that threatened their very existence. These challenges included predation via introduced predators such as dogs, cats, ferrets and stoats, gill net fishing and other human disturbances. Colonies around Banks Peninsula declined at an alarming rate and most disappeared altogether. Through predator trapping, monitoring, rehabilitation and immense dedication the Helps have stabilized the Pohatu Colony - and it continues to grow! In addition to their penguin conservation work the Helps family have also, for many years, protected native forests and other endemic species. Their work helped found the award-winning Wildside Conservation Project.

To this day, the family continues to be leaders in conservation and the efforts continue to be fully self-funded via Pohatu Penguins’ tours.

When purchasing a tour you have a positive input on our little Korora.