Ariimoana Walkabouts’ (Ariimoana Eco Tours) Pick Your Peak hiking adventure is the latest addition to the company’s eco-friendly tour lineup and gives guests a choice of the Raemaru, Ikurangi, and Te Ko’u tracks. Each route offers its own landscapes, viewpoints, and levels of challenge, catering to a range of fitness abilities.
Ariimoana’s founders Kura Happ and Jacopo Dozzo say that along the way, experienced guides share insights into native flora, traditional Polynesian land use, and the island’s rich ecological heritage.
‘The inland forest also offers excellent opportunities for birdwatching, with the chance to encounter endemic and native species rarely seen along the coastline,’ Dozzo points out.
The boutique eco tour operator runs reef walks, inland walks, private snorkelling tours and the private hiking tours. ‘We take a maximum of six guests for our shared tours as well as private bookings.’
Ariimoana Eco Tours has been officially running since 2020, but Happ was taking guests, friends and families explore the ecosystem of the Cook Islands for a number of years before that.
‘We operate in the respect of the environment and of our village and community, and we have exclusive access to plantations, orchards and inland areas.’
Happ, a Cook Islander, is a cultural specialist for National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions. Dozzo is originally from Italy and has lived in the Cook Islands for 12 years, worked for Island Hopper for nine years and has been full-time with Ariimoana for the last three.
ariimoana.walkabouts@gmail.com vacation@islandhopper.co.ck
