Located in the southernmost part of South Island, New Zealand and established as a reserve in 1904, the Fiordland National Park is one of the country’s treasured natural icons and is individually recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. Covering a vast area of 12,607 square km and famous for the grandeur of its rugged mountains, deep fiords and dense forests, often clinging to steep valley sides, it is home to several waterfalls, which include Sutherland Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in the world that drops 1,904 feet (580 m) in three cascades and lakes, including the Lake Hauroko, the deepest lake of the country.

Guarded by the Humboldt, Livingstone and Takitimu Mountains on the east and by the Tasman Sea on all the other sides, the protected area of the park is administered by the Department of Conservation, charged with the conservation of the natural and historical heritage of the country.

Most of Fiordland National Park is covered by southern ranges of the Sothern Alps, reaching its greatest elevations near the western side of the range and known by the Maori name Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, meaning the Mirage of the Ocean, along with the deep glacier-carved valleys, creating a highly inaccessible landscape. Although early Māori often visited Fiordland for hunting, fishing and gathering takiwai or pounamu, a type of New Zealand jade, European settlers, comprising sealers and whalers began to take shelter in the fiords much later, building few small settlements, as the earliest European settlements in New Zealand. However, with the progress of time, as the glaciers slowly but steadily became successful to cut off the islands from the mainland, creating two large uninhabited offshore islands and many smaller ones, the abrupt steepness of the terrain, the unbelievably strained isolation and above all the infamous wettest climate of New Zealand deterred the outsiders to settle in the region, except the hardiest.

Nevertheless, despite everything, human activity within Fiordland is very much restricted due to its harsh weather and challenging wild landscapes.

Apart from Lake Hauroko, the deepest lake in New Zealand, National Park contains several other large lakes, namely Lake Te Anau and Lake Manapour, located on the western boundary of the park, both having several arms, resembling the fiords on the west coast and Lake Monowai and Lake Poteriteri on the south, exhibiting the topography typical of glacier-carved valleys. Likewise, besides Sutherland Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in the world, the park contains several other waterfalls, which include Lady Browne Falls, Lady Alice Falls, Humboldt Falls and Lady Bowen Falls, as well as numerous temporary waterfalls in the fiords that come into life during rainfall. But Fiordland National Park is better known around the world for its breathtaking collection of glacier carved fiords, which took 100,000 years in the making and fringe the southwest corner of the South Island. Although topographically, fiords are known as U-shaped valleys, carved by glaciers for thousands of years and later flooded by the sea, the Maori believe they were created by the legendary Tute Rakiwhanoa, a gigantic stonemason. Fiordland National Park contains 14 deep fiords, among which Milford Sound is the most popular.

Described by Rudyard Kipling as the Eighth Wonder of the World, the 1381 feet (421 m) deep Milford Sound is the deepest of New Zealand’s fiords, a haven for nature and home to bottlenose dolphins, seals and penguins. Besides Milford Sound, the other fiords in the park include, among others, Doubtful Sound, Dusky Sounds and Preservation Inlet.

The lower slopes of the mountains in Fiordland National Park are richly covered with dense temperate rainforests, with an abundance of Red, Silver and Mountain Beech, along with the coniferous Rimu, Miro, Kahikatea and Totara. However, in the wetter areas, the vegetation in the park includes luxuriant shrubs, tree ferns, mosses and lichens. The park also serves as a significant refuge for bats and reptiles, insects and birds. Besides the vulnerable Fiordland crested Penguins and southern brown Kiwis, the population of birds in the park includes several rare flightless Takahe and Kakapo, also known as Owl Parrots, once thought to be extinct, along with Bush Robins, Fantails, Warblers, Parakeets and many more. It is also home to Tits, which supposedly got their name from Titmouse and Tuis, known as New Zealand's most prolific pollinators. While Opossum and Stoat, also known as the ermine, introduced into the park, have become a menace to other wildlife, hunting is encouraged to control Red Deer and Wapiti, which are also introduced species.

Enriched with rugged mountain ranges and dense forests, alpine lakes and waterfalls, glacial fiords and steep terrain, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand is an iconic tourist destination, a fascinating place to enjoy the virgin scenic beauty, hiking trails, rock climbing, aquatic sports and fishing