New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (commonly called the North Island and the South Island), and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Maori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud.The people of New Zealand are of European and Asian ancestry with percentages of the population belonging to the indigenous Polynesian or Maori people as well as people of Polynesian descent who are not of the Maori culture.

As showcased in the Lord of the Rings movies New Zealand is lush with greenery and has snow capped mountains that dip down to the ocean. The flora and fauna of the land are almost exclusively unique to it and cannot be found in any other part of the globe. A richly bio diverse region consisting of a large percentage of endemic flora and fauna such as forests,home to rare birds like the kiwi, kakapo, kaka, kea parrot and takah.The nation is highly sensitive to ecological issues and spearheads projects to save its precious variety of endangered species.

The culture of New Zealand is a fairly recently developed one as New Zealand was on of the last regions of the world that human civilization touched. It is a fascinating blend of contributing threads from its population of people of varying ancestries. It is a mélange of American, British, Australian; European as well as liberal splashes of Polynesian (chiefly Maori) and Asian influences.

Festivals celebrated here are as far ranging and varied as Diwali, Christmas, the Chinese New Year and a grand Polynesian festival the Pasifika. A nation that considers religion a private matter it is exceeding peaceful and accepting of different ways of life. The Maori ways, which had been fading due to the introduction then spread of Christianity in the early half of the nineteenth century, have seen a rise in the last few decades.

General Information

Major destinations

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