Dart River Safaris are located in the small frontier town of Glenorchy, just 45km from Queenstown, New Zealand. Our journey takes us 37km further up the Dart River Valley by coach and then jetboat, deep into the glacial folds of the Mount Aspiring National Park.
The Dart River Valley is part of the South West New Zealand World Heritage Area, "Te Wahipounamu". Te Wahipounamu is one of the best examples in the world of a dynamic mountainous landscape, and was created by the enormous forces of plate tectonic movement, which forced up the mountains we know as the Southern Alps. The pristine Dart River is glacial, the run off of the The Dart Glacier, a huge irresistible slow-moving river of ice which has ground the valley through the mountains to feed Lake Wakatipu.
The name Te Wahipounamu (which means place of Greenstone) was chosen in recognition of the great cultural significance of the area to Maori, especially as an ancient source of the prized Pounamu (Greenstone). Te Wahipounamu was granted it's world heritage title by the World Heritage Convention in 1991.
Te Wahipounamu is one of the world's great wild and scenic landscapes, a priceless remnant of the flora and fauna that once inhabited the ancient super-continent of Gondwanaland. Dart River Safaris is a New Zealand owned and operated company which has been operating since 1988.
You'll find the Dart River crew are professional, friendly, fun-loving kiwis. They are passionate about this uniquely beautiful area of New Zealand and they like nothing better than to share it with their visitors.
