Gannets sitting on their nests for breeding season. Photo: Supplied / Gannet Safaris Overland / Cape Sanctuary
Hawke's Bay's gannets are back for the breeding season and tours are starting up again, after last season was cut short by Cyclone Gabrielle.
Cape Kidnappers is a part-time home for more than 20,000 gannets, which have begun nesting again after spending the cooler months in Australia.
Gannet Safaris Overland general manager Sophie Phillips said its tours were booking up fast, and she hoped a new tour in collaboration with Cape Sanctuary, whose land the tours already travelled through to reach the colony, would prove popular.
The tour season runs from 1 September until all the gannets have left, usually at the end of April.
Until recently, there had been two companies running tours to see the gannets - the other one was Gannet Beach Adventures. But in May this year, the company announced its closure, according to a post on their website, "after four very difficult and frustrating years".
Covid-19 and then the cyclone had caused a downturn in tourism, which had hit the region hard - and Phillips said Gannet Safaris Overland had been on track to hit nearly 95 percent of pre-Covid visitor numbers before Cyclone Gabrielle.
Funnily enough, the gannets had proven to be an early warning system for the storm.
"We were stumped," Phillips said. "Our gannets all disappeared over a couple of days, way earlier than they normally do. We had to unexpectedly close our tours. A few hours later, the cyclone struck."
But according to longtime tour guide David Grace, the landscape remained mostly unchanged.
"We were pretty lucky out there. A lot of water came down of course, and she was pretty soggy for a while. At the golf course, I know the guys weren't letting people take their buggies on the course, it was that wet."
But their roads were gravel, and while steep, they were still in good condition.
He said the news of damage during the cyclone had kept tourists away from the region, but things were looking promising this year.
"We're lining up for a great season," he said. "People realise now that we're here, and we're open for business. I think we've got 120-odd cruise ships coming this summer."
The gannets themselves were a spectacular sight - and sound.
"If you can imagine that many gannets stacked in one place, and what they're trying to do is find their partner," Grace said.
"So one flies over the top and he said, 'Darling, I'm home', and the one at the bottom says, 'Well here I am, can't you see me?' and he says, 'No I'll go around again.' So he'll fly around ten times before he finds the right posse to come down in and land.
"And the chicks of course are saying, 'Where's my dinner?' so they're squawking away as well."
The collaboration with Cape Sanctuary
Gannet Safaris Overland general manager Sophie Phillips (left) and Cape Sanctuary's Aimee Pitcher (right). Photo: Supplied / Gannet Safaris Overland / Cape Sanctuary
The new tour will use Gannet Safaris Overland four-wheel-drive vehicles to take visitors on a 3.5 hour tour of Cape Sanctuary, taking in the nursery, the sand dunes, and the pest-free enclosure where guests have a chance to spot takahē, colourful kākāriki, tuatara, giant wētā and learn about the sanctuary's expanding seabird project.
As well as leading tours for Gannet Safaris Overland for the past 12 years, David Grace also volunteers at the sanctuary, where he said they had planted 70,000 trees already this winter, and had active breeding programmes for native birds.
"We've got probably 60 different varieties of birds, and we've introduced 25 different varieties [through species translocations]".
According to Sophie Phillips, the two companies had always shared a close relationship.
"We were increasingly finding that when passing through it enroute to the gannets, visitors would ask questions about how they could support the amazing work the sanctuary does to nurture and protect native species."
"We set up an optional carbon offset programme, adding $4 to the tour fee and then established donation boxes, so there were mechanisms for our guests to have an impact."
Last season $3654 was handed over to Cape Sanctuary in June, to go towards nursery production and planting.
Aimee Pitcher of Cape Sanctuary said the team were grateful for the support.
"The sanctuary runs at a huge deficit every year," she said. "Volunteer labour and donations like this are key to our longevity. It was wonderful to hear that locals and international visitors were happy to donate."