Whale Watch Kaikoura, New Zealand

winner, Community Benefit Award 2010

Whale Watch Kaikoura (WWK) is New Zealand's only marine-based whale-watching company operating year round, and offering visitors an exciting and up-close encounter with the Giant Sperm Whale. WWK is a 100% Maori-owned and locally operated company located in the small coastal town of Kaikoura. a scenic 2.5 hours drive north from Christchurch on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. Towering snow-covered peaks fall to the ocean here while, just offshore, a deep undersea canyon attracts an extraordinary abundance of marine life.
Kaikoura's resident sperm whales are the largest living carnivore - equivalent in size to four elephants. They share their unique world with a host of other whale and dolphin species, seals and albatross - all regular sightings aboard WWK tours.

Judges' Verdict
Twenty three years ago a group of four Maori families on the Kaikoura peninsula started business together and founded Whale Watch Kaikoura as well as the Kaikoura Charitable Trust - its major shareholder. What began as a small-scale, community-based tourism venture has turned into a thriving business, which has proven to be the catalyst for the revival and sustainable growth and the development of an entire region. Through generating profits, WWK has been able to secure the land of Kaikoura peninsula for the Maori population, which has lived there for 1,000 years and was under threat of displacement through railroad developments and poverty.
WWK not only operates a profitable business providing direct and indirect employment, it also provides tangible community benefits through complimentary annual whale-watching school trips, donations to Kaikoura hospital, the coastguard and fire brigade, and funding of marine research projects - to name a few. Kaikoura has also been the first community in New Zealand and the second in the world to receive Green Globe certification. WWK is Qualmark EnviroGold accredited - New Zealand's environmental best practices certification.

"Whale Watch is committed to providing a quality whale-watching experience while carefully managing the use of a rare natural resource. As a Maori-owned company, Whale Watch cherishes the twin values of hospitality to visitors and reverence for the natural world. It is a philosophy that embraces people, the land, the sea and all living things as one."
Kauahi Ngapora, Chief Operating Officer, Whale Watch Kaikoura