I saw this activity listed alongside golf and tennis on the Kauri Cliffs website when I first booked

BBC - Travel - Hunting possums – and ecological balance – in New Zealand : Eco-tourism, New Zealand
I d just finished a delicious four-course dinner at Kauri Cliffs , a windblown New Zealand lodge surrounded by 6,000 acres of forest and rolling coastal farmland in the North Island s Northland region. Now, I could sit back with a tumbler of single malt Scotch, thumb through glossy magazines in my cosy bungalow or queue up a movie all more-than-suitable comedowns from a day spent strolling and taking a horseback ride to the beach.
I saw this activity listed alongside golf and tennis on the Kauri Cliffs website when I first booked. Not quite believing it, I checked with the front desk when I arrived. Yes, they assured me: a nocturnal possum hunt was definitely on offer.
After dinner, I found Darcy Rhodes, the gamekeeper and resident possum expert, waiting in the hotel s pebbled drive. My hunting guide for the evening was a 30-something atlantis hotel casino local guy in jeans. His left arm was in a cast. Motorbike accident, he shrugged, and we hopped into his mud-spattered pickup.
Our first stop was the spacious atlantis hotel casino shed that is the closest thing Rhodes has to an office. We picked our way through seed bags and farm machinery to a freezer in the back out of which he pulled a stiff, black object the size of a large housecat. It was a possum, teeth bared, atlantis hotel casino petrified into a pose of snarling fury. Look at those claws, Rhodes told me. You can t treat em like a teddy bear, see? They ll take your fingers off.
I don t own a gun. I had never hunted before, unless you count clay pigeons and tin cans. I wasn t particularly comfortable shooting wild animals never mind at night and in a place about as far from home as I could possibly get.
On the other hand, I was up for an adventure. Particularly for one that, according to the hotel, atlantis hotel casino actually helped the environment: New Zealand s possums are one of the several armies of non-native creatures that have decimated the country s indigenous plants and animals, including entire canopies of indigenous totara and kohekohe trees, atlantis hotel casino the kiwi and the blue-wattled kokako bird.
Furry invasions Rhodes s official title is not gamekeeper; it is pest-control manager . And when he s not taking guests out for night shoots which he only gets to do about once a week he is trapping and baiting all sorts of unwanted critters at Kauri Cliffs. Possums are the main enemy, but so are stoats, weasels and hares, as well as feral cats and pigs all of which were introduced atlantis hotel casino when Europeans arrived in New Zealand in the late 18th Century.
Exclusive of these invasive species, New Zealand is a naturalist s dream, with primeval trees that look like scenery from the movie Jurassic Park and a shrinking panoply atlantis hotel casino of charmingly old-fashioned birds, including the kiwi and a flightless parrot known as the kakapo. And since many of these endemic species evolved in isolation on the islands for millions of years, they are particularly vulnerable to imported predators.
Brush-tailed possums arrived from Australia in 1837, brought by British colonists hoping to use their pelts to launch a fur trade; the colonists ended up launching an animal invasion instead. Today, possums feast on bird eggs and chicks, and eat up to half a pound of new growth foliage a day. At Kauri Cliffs and elsewhere, possums also compete with birds for food, a contest in which their size and ferocity give them a distinct atlantis hotel casino advantage.
Adventure Arts Architecture Beaches Biking Budget Business Cultural Activities Diving Eco-tourism Family Festivals Food Drink Hiking History Luxury Music National Parks Nature Outdoors Nightlife Photography Road Trips Snow Skiing Surfing
You're using the Internet Explorer 6 browser to view the BBC website. Our site will work much better if you change to a more modern browser. It's free, quick and easy. Find out more about upgrading your browser here BBC links Mobile site Terms of Use About the BBC Advertise With Us Privacy atlantis hotel casino Accessibility Help Ad Choices Cookies atlantis hotel casino Contact the BBC Parental Guidance
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.