Abel Tasman National Park

national park, New Zealand

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Article History

Abel Tasman National Park, wildlife preserve in northwestern South Island, New Zealand. Established in 1942, it was named for Abel Tasman, the Dutch navigator. With an area of 55,699 acres (22,541 hectares), it extends inland for about 6 miles (10 km) from the beaches of Tasman Bay on its western shores between Separation Point and Marahau Inlet, about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Nelson. The park includes the Tata Islands in Golden Bay and Tonga, Adele, and Fisherman islands in Tasman Bay. The park is largely covered in shrubland and pasture, though in the river valleys there are rain forests consisting of beech, rata, matai, miro, hinau, and tussock.

Abel Tasman National Park is unique in New Zealand in that its bush-clad slopes exhibit a mixture of the vegetation types characteristic of both North and South Islands, a phenomenon that is found nowhere else in New Zealand. Birdlife in the park includes petrel, shag, penguin, gull, tern, heron, and numerous other varieties. Animal life includes deer, goat, wild pig, and opossum. The park’s headquarters are at Totaranui.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.