Paparoa
On the South Island in New Zealand is the amazing Paparoa National Park. It was founded in 1987 on an area of 306 km2. The park is striking in the beauty of its rocks in the form of a stack of pancakes and amazing in diversity vegetation.
The park is located near the cities of Westport, Greymouth and Barritown and is a popular tourist attraction. Especially many tourists can be seen in the caves of Podzemnaya and Te Ananui. But such beauty is fraught with danger. In 1995, 14 people died during the collapse of the observation deck in the Ruchy cave.
Most of Paparoa National Park is covered by mountain landscapes of limestone. This area of 30 million was under water, and all this time the remains of marine creatures were laid at the bottom. Numerous earthquakes lifted the seabed, forming unusual rocks resembling fabulous animals, jagged shores and sandy beaches. The most famous place in Paparoa Park is located near Punakaika, where the boundaries between layers of limestone are especially clearly visible. These rocks are called Pancake.
Numerous rivers flow through the Paparoa National Park, which for millions of years flowed through light limestone rock, and uploaded caves and underground rivers in the rocks. Extensive cave systems are another feature of the park. In places, rivers appear from failures and then disappear into them.
The park attracts birds with its diversity. Paparoa reliefs hide rare birds such as kiwi, and there are also tui, kaka parrots, New Zealand macocaco honeybies and pigeons. Westland's petrels nest in Paparoa Park, which are under special protection here, as they are found only in this area. On the seashore you can see the colonies of New Zealand fur seals, which in turn attract sea leopards and killer whales here. Also, floating humpback and blue whales, dolphins are sometimes visible in the sea.
