Living Forest Walkway

The Living Forest Walkway at Curio Bay, also known as the Tumu Toka Living Forest, is a short and easy trail that offers a rare chance to experience a regenerating native forest standing almost beside its 170–180-million-year-old petrified counterpart.

Located in the Catlins on New Zealand’s southern coast, the walkway takes about 15 minutes return and covers a gentle circuit of roughly 600 metres through coastal bush.

In 2009 the South Catlins Charitable Trust secured the land to protect it from stock and predators, restore native vegetation, and create public access. The project became a community effort involving locals, visitors, and businesses.

Today the reserve covers around 10 hectares of regenerating lowland forest. Visitors walk among young rimu stands that are still establishing themselves, mature kamahi and rātā trees, and a mānuka wetland.

Other species include mātai, tōtara, kahikatea, and fuchsia. Birdsong fills the air, and the dense greenery gives a vivid sense of how the ancient Jurassic forest that once grew here may have looked.

What makes the site special is its proximity to the famous petrified forest on the tidal rock platform just a short distance away. This is believed to be one of the only places in the world where a living forest of related trees stands so close to an exposed fossil forest from the same evolutionary lineage. The walkway therefore acts as a living counterpart, helping visitors connect the deep geological past with the present-day landscape.

The track is well-formed and suitable for most fitness levels. It can easily be combined with the short-Petrified Forest Walk and wildlife viewing for yellow-eyed penguins, seals, and Hector’s dolphins. Access is straightforward from the Curio Bay area, with the entrance near Mair Road.

The Living Forest Walkway turns a simple stroll into a meaningful encounter with both restoration efforts and New Zealand’s ancient natural history.