Mamaku Ranges

The Mamaku Ranges are a range of rugged hills in the North Island of New Zealand. Located to the west of Lake Rotorua and north of Lake Taupo, they lie to the immediate south of the Kaimai Range and can be thought of as an extension of it, in much the same way that the Kaimai Range can be considered an extension of the Coromandel Range. The hills terminate in the south with the valley of the Waikato River. There were at one time numerous bush railways that ran over and through the Ranges.[1]

At their highest, the Mamaku Ranges rise to over 600 metres, and much of the high ground within the hills forms a plateau. The range is extensively forested, with the Kaimai-Mamaku State Forest and Kinleith Forest both covering a considerable part of them. The forest includes kauri trees growing at the far southern limit of their natural range.