Over 100 years ago the Spectator magazine declared New Zealand’s Milford Track ‘the finest walk in the world’.
But now hikers and conservationists are claiming that the 54km-long route in Fiordland national park, over glaciers and through beech forest, is being ruined by tourists only interested in ticking off their bucket list.
The number of walkers tackling the route has soared in recent years, with 12,000 last year – up by 12.4 per cent compared to 2016 and more than 50,000 more than in 2008.
The number of walkers tackling Milford Track, pictured, has soared in recent years, with 12,000 last year – up by 12.4 per cent compared to 2016
Over 100 years ago the Spectator magazine declared New Zealand’s Milford Track, pictured, ‘the finest walk in the world’
One contractor told Radio New Zealand: ‘On some of the great walk tracks, you find poos and toilet paper just littered down the side of the tracks. It’s disgusting’
Contractors employed to get the route ready for tourists have complained to media in New Zealand about it being polluted with human waste, according to the Guardian.
It reported that one contractor told Radio New Zealand: ‘On some of the great walk tracks, you find poos and toilet paper just littered down the side of the tracks. It’s disgusting.’
And Ross Harraway, 74, a Department of Conservation hut warden on Milford Track, told the newspaper that tourists seem more interested in ticking off their bucket list than taking an interest in the area.
He said: ‘They have their headphones in, head down, get up on the pass [Mackinnon], take their photos and the tick is over.’
And another contractor told The Guardian that the route now resembles a ‘highway, a conveyer belt’.
The route begins at the head of Lake Te Anau and leads visitors across suspension bridges and board walks.
Newzealand.com said: ‘The Milford Track will show you pristine lakes, sky-scraping mountain peaks and enormous valley views; and it will take you to feel the misty breath of Sutherland Falls, the tallest waterfall in New Zealand.
Hikers and conservationists are claiming that the 54km-long route in Fiordland national park, over glaciers and through beech forest, is being ruined by tourists
The route begins at the head of Lake Te Anau and leads visitors across suspension bridges and board walks
‘On a sunny day it is postcard perfect but some walkers say that only when it rains, and torrents of water cascade down the steep mountainsides, have you truly experienced the magic of the Milford Track.’
In 2013 a Sydney-based Indonesian student called Yessica Asmin, 22, died while walking the route.
She was pulled from the Clinton River two days after falling while crossing a stream on the route.
The Mountain Safety Council said at the time that the death highlights the need for all trampers to take extreme care when encountering rivers.