Finding Natures Best

Four Seasons Safaris have recently purchased their own piece of natural paradise, Backridge Station, heaven on earth in Kaikoura, where the ‘mountains meet with the ocean’ on the South Island of New Zealand. This stunning property is tucked away at the base of the Kaikoura Seaward Mountain Range in sight of the Eastern Kaikoura Coastline, the Pacific Ocean. Locating this property seemed like a life long process, searching for years to locate the idyllic natural landscape for hunting and farming with an eco system that can be self sustaining along with being rich in flora and fauna. When we first stepped foot on this land, then hiking to the highest vantage point, we knew this was what we had been patiently waiting for.  A pristine part of New Zealand offering so much natural beauty. Beauty to preserve in every way we can. With the vision of taking care of nature knowing that we are custodians of the land, our vision is to make our place, your place, one with nature!

The Land

Backridge is filled with thousands of acres of native bush, including a mix of lush grassy meadows that are intermixed throughout the timber gullies. The native bush is packed full of an array of trees including Kowhai, Manuka, Kanuka, Beech, Cabbage, Totara, Broadleaf, Tea trees, an assortment of native ferns and flax’s, along with many more native seedlings. With so many native trees, bushes and plants on the property, the songs of the bush from our beautiful native birds includes the the tui (hikinga), fantail (piwakawaka), bellbird (korimako), morepork (ruru), native wood pigeon (kereru), robins, (kakaruwai), rifleman (tititi pounamu), falcon (koroki), kingfisher (whaikorero)  and other native birds that frequent the valleys with their happy tuneful songs. To continue hearing and seeing NZ’s beautiful native birds we practice a safe predator control programme to eradicate threats to the native flora and fauna so future generations can also admire the wings in the sky and our native plants.  
Since purchasing Backridge Station, we have been working closely with local soil and land specialists to assess the health of the vegetation. With this information we have been advised on the best practices to remove invasive species and enhance the health of the native foliage to be the best we can.  Our ambition is to remove all invasive plants and make the land as healthy as we can to bring it back to its natural native state. Setting aside approximately one third of Backridge, to allow the native plants to regenerate is a target we are aiming for.  
Backridge is located in between two major river systems where fresh water flows.  Natural springs throughout the land gives our property plenty of water for all of its plants and wildlife year round. We will take great measures to protect our waterways and comply with the requirements for environmental legislation.

Utilizing the resources

Four Seasons believes in utilising the resources from the land to minimise the overall footprint and provide as many resources as they can. The farm is full of fruit trees, olives, peaches, applies, pears, nectarines, quinces, grapes, persimmon and a well established vegetable garden close to the home to provide the farm with self sustaining organic food. Diversity to our hunting operation is a herd of Angus and Hereford cattle that are raised for beef and are rotated around the property to manage grass and soil health. There is also arapawa sheep, red and fallow deer for enhancing the grazing that also go from pasture to the dining table. To help with pollination of the plants and orchard trees on the property there are several different areas where bee hives are taken care of by a professional apiarist producing delicious manuka, clover and liquid honey. 
We strongly support full recycling and composting *Use enviro-friendly cleaning products *Avoid plastic and foils.  Reuse/Repair/Respect.
We take particular care in the daily clean up around the property. Family, employees and contractors are also advised of our vision and environmental practices. We all work pro-actively to manage and respect our natural wilderness environment and are continually improving our environmental practices.

We do our very best to keep our environment healthy which in turn keeps our animals healthy, our waterways clean and our land PURE.  We are 100% committed to preserve this quintessential land in which we live.

Sustainability practices

Honey Bees
Orchard fruit harvesting
Olive harvesting
Blackberries picking
Grass management
Cattle / deer / sheep rotations
Untouched native bush
Grass fed beef / sheep / deer