Ulva's Guided Walks
Ulva's Guided Walks
5
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Full view
About
Ulva Island is located on Stewart Island,New Zealand. A predator-free and picturesque island, it is an environmental treasure. Rare, endangered, endemic and native birds abound - it is also a botanist's dream in a pristine primeval forest environment. Ulva's Guided Walks is the Ulva Island specialist natural history guiding team that provides visitors with truly memorable experiences in this unique forest sanctuary. We provide personalised and small group experiences - and absolutely guarantee that you will love our southern-most bird sanctuary in the world!
Stewart Island, New Zealand
Meets animal welfare guidelines
Awards
Travellers' Choice
2024
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
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5.0
163 reviews
Excellent
152
Very good
8
Average
0
Poor
1
Terrible
2
Nalini N
Greater Sydney, Australia681 contributions
Mar 2024 • Family
We were fortunate with the weather, the guide (Carly I think) was so passionate about fauna & flora so perfect person to walk with. She was knowledgeable too. For me the walk could have been shorter, half the time. Seeing seals playing on the beach was a treat. The skipper could have been friendlier.
Written 29 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Patrick W
Auckland Central, New Zealand58 contributions
Jan 2021
We were lucky enough to be escorted by Ulva who was superb. This is a must to do for anyone spending time on Stewart Island. Totally worth paying the price of an ecorted trip people who know the Island better than anyone. Ask for Ulva herself!. You wont be disappointed
Written 4 January 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Peter I
Cowden, UK9 contributions
Mar 2020 • Couples
We had a brilliant half day guided walk with Ulva. She's so enthusiastic and knowledgeable - the morning flew past too quickly. The island is amazingly full of birdlife, it's often hard to know what to watch first. But we were surprised and thrilled to see a kiwi in broad daylight, and right next to the track. Definitely highly recommended - and do the tour early in your trip so you know what you're looking at and hearing!
Written 10 March 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much for your lovely feedback. I'm so very pleased that reviews are still arriving while the world is in lock-down; and I'm thrilled you were able to come to our loveliest part of NZ before mother earth rebelled! The environment has definitely survived the best out of this lock-down time, the ever-present smog in the northern hemisphere has dispersed to show some scenery that hasn't been viewed for years!
Can't wait to get back to Ulva Island and check how the birdlife is going, we haven't been back since March. I have to tell you that more kiwi are been seen wandering around Oban township - probably it has more to do with the lack of humankind interfering with their daily walks!
Noho ora mai - keep safe and well, Ulva Goodwillie.
Written 9 May 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Stuart L
Auckland, New Zealand49 contributions
Dec 2022 • Solo
We had a great night out with a knowledgeable guide. We saw our first kiwi while we were driving out to the location, and our last kiwi while driving home.
It was a great experience seeing this iconic bird, so glad I went along.
One of them even walked right up to our guide and sniffed his boots, we would have laughed except we were trying to keep quiet!
It was a great experience seeing this iconic bird, so glad I went along.
One of them even walked right up to our guide and sniffed his boots, we would have laughed except we were trying to keep quiet!
Written 16 December 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Stewart M
Melbourne, Australia7 contributions
Jun 2024 • Solo
I did 3 tours with this company over the course of 3 days - two trip to Ulva Island and one night-time Kiwi watching trip. All three were excellent. Guides were great - and it was nice that the two trips to Ulva were substantially different because we had different guides, so it felt like I got a really good look at the island. Company was very response on text messages which was helpful.
Recommended.
Recommended.
Written 4 July 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dianne F
Rotorua12 contributions
Oct 2020 • Solo
Ulva and her admin lady Jules were brilliant to deal with. I booked my tickets into stewart island before my tours with Ulva's tours which turned out to be booked out! Ulva and Jules made it happen for me though! Brilliant communication. Matt's tour of Ulva was everything I had dreamed of. Saw plenty of birds, relaxed and interesting commentary from Matt and even saw a sea lion on the beach. The trip over was a nice boat trip too. Ian took me on the night kiwi tour and it exceeded expectations too with lots of kiwi coming up close, and the stars and milky way crystal clear, a lovely evening. Cannot rate them high enough. Thank you so much to all the team for making a dream come true.
Written 10 October 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dianne, we are all thrilled that we could make it happen and got to share Stewart Island and Ulva Island's incredible flora, fauna, landscape and nightscape with you. We love what we do but it makes it especially neat when someone like yourself is so interested and passionate too. Warm regards, Jules :)
Written 11 October 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Marion Q
Not Applicable45 contributions
Feb 2021 • Friends
We visited Ulva Island with our guide, Emily. I only booked a day ahead and Ulva did very well to fit us in. We were advised to do a guided tour before setting off on the North West Circuit so we knew all the flora and fauna we would see. This was a great idea and the guided tour enhanced our island experience no end. We were able to share our new knowledge with our tramping friends and new hut buddies along the way.
Emily was professional, experienced, knowledgeable and a delight to spend time with.
If it wasn’t raining hard today (my last day), I’d have even done it again.
Emily was professional, experienced, knowledgeable and a delight to spend time with.
If it wasn’t raining hard today (my last day), I’d have even done it again.
Written 10 February 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
TheMcBeaths
Christchurch, New Zealand22 contributions
Mar 2022 • Couples
We booked the combo tour and you won’t be disappointed. We had Ulva as our guide on both occasions and what a delight she was. Managed to see two Kiwis on the night tour which was a bucket list moment and the trip to Ulva Island is a brilliant. Ulva’s knowledge was outstanding and we learnt a lot about wonderful native birds and plants. A big thank you from us and also for being patient as this was the third time booking this trip due to Covid.
Written 18 March 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Yay! As you know, we are thrilled that you both finally made it to Rakiura! Thank you for sharing your feedback, which I will pass on to Ulva for sure. We are just so pleased to have played a small part in you ticking that bucket list moment. It will give you goosebumps for a long time yet! We greatly appreciate YOU for sticking with us; postponing instead of cancelling was a huge help for us during those lock downs.
Written 24 March 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Gerald P
42 contributions
Dec 2020 • Family
Magic morning on the Island. Ulva our guide has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Saw a tieke (Saddleback) and a couple of nesting tititi pounamu (Rifleman) amongst many other birds. The evening Kiwi watching was a great success, even saw a Whitetail doe on the way back to the village. A must do. Thank you Ulva.
Written 16 December 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jane
Whangarei, New Zealand5 contributions
Apr 2024 • Family
Our guide Ulva was so knowledgeable and enthusiastic. We saw robins, kaka, parakeets, saddlebacks, white fronted tern, red headed kakariki, bell birds. Watched a pup and mum sealion playing together. Unspoiled pristine forest.
Written 13 April 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Can any of these guided tours be done on a day trip as this is all we could do as we wold not want to leave our camper van unattended for 2 days at Bluff, as much as we would love to do 2 days on Stewart island/Ulva
Written 1 September 2016
Hi - Ulva Goodwillie here from Ulva's Guided Walks. We can definitely arrange a half day trip to fit in with your transport requirements. Dependent on your afternoon departure time, we can fit in an early afternoon half day guided walk to suit.
Remember too, that the ferry has a really good long-term parking system at Bluff which may help? Contact us via email and we can discuss this further...
Best regards,
Ulva Goodwillie
Ulva's Guided Walks
Ulva Island Bird Sanctuary
Written 3 September 2016
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