The locals at Fox Glacier are starting to occasionally hear a bird call that's been absent from the area for many decades.
The Department of Conservation is introducing the rare Okarito kiwi - also called Rowi - into the forests of Lake Matheson, just a few kilometres from Fox Glacier.
The birds have been very vulnerable to introduced predators such as stoats, and by the early 2000s their numbers in the wild had dwindled to about 165.
In 2010, a recovery programme began harvesting spare eggs from the wild. The chicks were reared on a creche island in the Marlborough Sounds and eventually released back in the West Coast forests.
Twelve years on, there's now believed to be about 600 Okarito kiwi in the wild.
With the forests around Okarito now well stocked, Doc has been looking for other areas for future releases.
Following a programme of trapping and poisoning of introduced predators around Fox Glacier, more than 100 birds have been released in the Lake Matheson area.
In Okarito township there's already a small business that takes people out viewing kiwi at night, and Doc's South Westland Operations Manager Wayne Costello says there could eventually be a similar business in Fox Glacier, taking visitors out to view Rowi at night.
"More businesses looking to use nature as the basis of their business, rather than people visiting and just seeing the glaciers, is pretty cool for us and diversify why people might come and visit us here," he said.
That's good news for the tourist town of Fox Glacier, which has not only had visitor numbers drastically affected by Covid-19, but also by a massive landslide that permanently closed road access to the glacier.
Lead Guide of Fox Glacier Guiding Marius Bron says he's "excited" by the return of kiwi to the area and the implications for future eco-tourist ventures in the area.
"We love the fact that we've got kiwi nearby now, and at night-time you can certainly hear kiwi calling," he says.
By: Rudy Adrian
