My visit of a Maori Village.
The first week of my trip I visited a Maori village. It was a very memorable experience. I lived in Dunedin on South Island. It's a very charming city. Dunedin has a picturesque harbor, Otago Harbour. It is also known for penguins antipodes, also called "yellow-eyed penguins" that abound on the Otago Peninsula. They are very cute !
So we went to the village Maori by 4x4. It was a long journey, very tiring because we left early. We came at the village at the end of the afternoon, and we were wonderfully welcomed by Maori with their traditional dance, the haka. It was v so impressive ! It came out an extraordinary vitality from this dance. It was really beautiful. Here is a link here to see an example of their performence : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI851yJUQQw
Then we shared a meal with the Maori. We tasted their local specialty food, whitebait, salmon, kumara (sweet local potatoes), kiwi, tamarillo (also called tree tomatoes. These fruits are eaten as a vegetable) or also the pavlova : a crisp meringue with soft heart.
Then we met a tattoo artist who talked to us about the importance of Maori tattoo. He explained us that at the age of twelve, young boys getting their first tattoo, meaning their passage from childhood to adulthood. As they grew, more tattoos were added to the first, and ultimately, the more a man was tattooed, the more we guessed that his prestige was great. So it is a real tradition for the Maori. It was very exciting to discover all that !
Then, a Maori guide took us into the forest and made us discover different specific new-zealand animals. First of all, we saw a kiwi. This is the most emblematic animal of the country. The kiwi is a nocturnal bird that can not fly. He lives in a kind of terriers, inside trunks or under tree ferns. It is a very funny animal ! We also saw a Kea, a mountain parrot, and we saw diurnal geckos. This one is a small lizard hiding in the bushes the day. The guide knew with success where it was hiding !
