Notes from New Zealand: A Book of Travel and Natural History

Recounts the author's three visits to New Zealand, and his efforts to view, alive and in the wild, the kiwi, the tuatara, and the rare native frogs

Kanze, a self-proclaimed ``naturalist who fancies himself a writer,'' travels to the ``other land down under'' in search of three rare animals--a flightless bird known as the kiwi, a primitive reptile called the tuatara, and an elusive type of New Zealand frog that lacks vocal sacs and eardrums. The author, who lives in the N.Y.C. suburbs, journeys to New Zealand on three separate occasions, and he lays his book out in quasi-diary form with a brief introduction outlining the country's history. New Zealand, he points out, has no native land mammals-- the island-nation became isolated from neighboring continents only 100 million years ago and so mammals never had a chance to evolve. Instead, the country became ``a lost world, a living museum of ancient, less competitive species whose near kin had died out on the continents.'' Kanze explores New Zealand both independently and by joining scientific expeditions to isolated locales, and his prose comes most alive when he is describing the animals he sees: ``The six kaka [parrots] put on a fine show....caterwauling and laughing loudly, swinging from branches...like trapeze performers, and hanging by their beaks.'' Far too often, though, his descriptions are bare-boned and flat (``Today I took an exhaustive bus tour....The scenery was lovely''), and he seldom reaches beyond a straightforward reportorial style. Kanze also has a tendency to change tense occasionally without reason. Compelling and informative at times, sketchy at others. (Twenty-six illustrations.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

To see the endemic wildlife of New Zealand--tuatara, a primitive reptile; the flightless kiwi; and three species of rare frogs--syndicated nature columnist Kanze made three trips to the country in five years; on the last two visits he joined scientific expeditions surveying the tuatara populations on offshore islands. Here Kanze takes us on an entertaining, adventurous tour of New Zealand's forests, parks and beaches and on a grueling three-day hike on the famed Milford Track. Working with biologists who captured tuataras at dusk, took blood samples, then returned them to their burrows was arduous but rewarding. Kanze observed penguins, albatrosses and parrots, but the kiwi remained elusive. Ultimately, however, his personal mission was fulfilled: he spotted a kiwi directly in front of him and, taking a last walk in the bush, discovered a frog. Photos not seen by PW .
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This appropriately titled collection of notes describes Kanze's quest to view, in the wild, three rare New Zealand animals: the kiwi, tuatara, and New Zealand frog. The search requires three trips (and two job terminations) in the 1980s, and reveals as much about Kanze as it does about New Zealand and its natural history. He provides impressions of the New Zealanders he meets, mostly in the countryside and as a volunteer for the Department of Conservation. Recording disappointments and successes during his sometimes frustrating search, Kanze often finds unexpected rewards. Reading his account is a somewhat similar experience. (Illustrations not seen.)-- William R. Smith, Johns Hopkins Univ. Lib., Baltimore
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.