Lake Wanaka, New Zealand

“Lake Wanaka is located in the Otago region of New Zealand, at an altitude of 300 metres. It is New Zealand’s fourth largest lake and estimated to be more than 300 m (980 ft) deep. Its name is Māori, a corruption of Oanaka ‘The place of Anaka’, a local tribal chief. Wanaka is a town on the lake with which it shares its name.

While Māori had long known of its existence, the first European to reach the lake is thought to have been Nathaniel Chalmers in 1853. Accompanied by Māoris, he walked from Tuturau (Southland) to the lake via the Kawarau River, later returning by a raft floating down the Clutha river. Around 1859, other explorers who were now mapping the area also found a ruined Māori village that had been destroyed in a tribal raid in 1836 in the Makarora Valley. Around 1861, several new sheep stations had been established in around the south end of the lake, and in 1862, the lake itself was surveyed in a whaleboat. The early European name was Lake Pembroke.

As one of the few lakes in the South Island with an unmodified shoreline, the lake is protected by special legislation, namely the ‘Lake Wanaka Preservation Act of 1973’. This established a ‘Guardians of Lake Wanaka’ group, whose members are appointed by the Minister of Conservation, and advise on measures to protect the lake.”

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