UNESCO World Heritage Site

Te Wahipounamu – South West New Zealand

Te Wahipounamu – South West New Zealand is a natural UNESCO World Heritage Site in New Zealand, inscribed in 1990.

The landscape in this park, situated in south-west New Zealand, has been shaped by successive glaciations into fjords, rocky coasts, towering cliffs, lakes and waterfalls. Two-thirds of the park is covered with southern beech and podocarps, some of which are over 800 years old. T

The landscape in this park, situated in south-west New Zealand, has been shaped by successive glaciations into fjords, rocky coasts, towering cliffs, lakes and waterfalls. Two-thirds of the park is covered with southern beech and podocarps, some of which are over 800 years old. The kea, the only alpine parrot in the world, lives in the park, as does the rare and endangered takahe, a large flightless bird.

Country
New Zealand
Region
Oceania
Category
Natural
Inscribed
1990
UNESCO reference
551
Area
2,600,000 ha

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Counts are based on Zikzak's current UNESCO World Heritage dataset, sourced from UNESCO. Last updated 7 August 2026. UNESCO insights

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