US students experience tikanga Māori on the high seas

Staff and students from the University of Auckland and the Auckland University of Technology enjoyed a day out with local Māori tourism operators Waka Quest Tours and Te Haerenga, which included sailing on the waka Haunui to Motutapu Island where they tasted a delicious hāngī and did some exploring.

ATEED’s International Product Development Manager, Keri Edmonds, says, “This sort of activity is designed to enhance the international student experience. A key focus for our team is to raise the awareness of our cultural offering to international students, and provide greater opportunity for them to connect with Auckland’s people and landscapes.”

“While it’s still early days for this pilot project, it was great to have the opportunity to test out some ideas, which was made possible by funding support from Education New Zealand’s Regional Partnership Programme.”

ATEED’s Māori Tourism Development Manager, Koro Carmen joined Keri on the day and commented, “It was an incredible day of engaging with locals, taking part in tikanga Māori activities and exploring some of Auckland’s iconic landscapes. This is a great example of Māori operators connecting and collaborating with our colleagues to enhance the visitor experience. We were even lucky enough to see several of the endangered takahē wandering around the island!”