Mavora Lakes Campsite

Mavora Lakes Campsite is a DOC standard campsite set within the Mavora Lakes Conservation Park, part of the Te Wāhipounamu/South-West New Zealand World Heritage Area. The campsite has two main camping areas: one alongside South Mavora Lake and the other between South Mavora Lake and North Mavora Lake, offering 60 non-powered tent sites spread across an impressive landscape of mountains, beech forest, and open tussock grassland.

Facilities include long-drop toilets, BBQ areas with designated fire spots (campfires permitted outside fire bans using dead wood only), tap water, picnic tables, and a boat launching ramp. There are no showers or kitchen facilities. Bookings are required year-round through the DOC website, and the DOC Campsite Pass is accepted. Access is via 39 km of well-maintained gravel road off State Highway 94, approximately 1 hour 30 minutes’ drive from Te Anau. Dogs are allowed but must be kept on a leash in camping areas.

The park offers outstanding recreational opportunities including trout fishing, boating (motorised craft on North Mavora Lake only), 4WD driving, hunting, horse trekking, mountain biking, and tramping. The Mavora to Greenstone Walkway is a 50 km, four-day tramping trip linking the camping area with the Greenstone Track through valley tussock land and beech forest. Film enthusiasts will recognise North Mavora Lake as the location for Nen Hithoel in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The area is also popular for stargazing, with minimal light pollution offering exceptional night sky viewing.