Daily Telegraph travel writer says trip up Whanganui River like entering Jurassic Park

Paul Bloomfied of The Daily Telegraph spent three days rowing the Whanganui River on a safari. Photo / File

A writer for the Daily Telegraph in the United Kingdom has likened his surroundings while rowing on the Whanganui River to scenes from Jurassic Park.

"Despite our location, the scene was less Lord of the Rings, more Jurassic Park," Paul Bloomfield wrote.

"I half-expected a velociraptor to peer out from behind a fragrant manuka tree."

Bloomfield has written a comprehensive piece detailing his three-day guided safari, during which he learned about the history of the river and the Māori people with such rich ties to it.

The writer covers his stay at Tieke Kainga, which he regards as "one of the world's most unforgettable campsites" as well as the Bridge to Nowhere and tarei-pou-kiore.

Bloomfield writes: "A century ago, one traveller described it thus: "The whirlpool was a frightening thing to see, a great sucking, swirling, almost animate thing that moved restlessly about its high-walled enclosure like some voracious animal pacing its cage."

He continues: "The animal was tamed in 1912 when the rocks forming the whirlpool were dynamited; today it's a mere kitten. Though not to be taken lightly, rapids are widely spaced and, in this stretch at least, little more than gurgles."

The guides on the safari were Simon Dixon and Bailey Stubbs, who were tasked with looking after a Kiwi family, an American couple, a young doctor and two teenage boys, along with Bloomfield.

Together they all beached beneath John Coull to camp, where they washed down a tasty curry with warm beer.

Bloomfield concludes: "The Maori of the Whanganui have a saying: "Ko au te awa. Ko te awa ko au. I am the river. The river is me."

"Their connection with this waterway extends back many centuries. But even to this Limey Pakeha, at the end of a three-day walk that's not a walk, paddling a river that's not just a river, those simple words make perfect sense."