Tangoio Falls and Te Ana Falls

Napier, North Island, New Zealand

About Tangoio Falls and Te Ana Falls


Hiking Distance: 4km round trip
Suggested Time: 60-75 minutes

Date first visited: 2004-11-16
Date last visited: 2004-11-16

Waterfall Latitude: -39.30742
Waterfall Longitude: 176.88455

Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Tangoio Falls and Te Ana Falls comprised a pleasant waterfall tandem that we were able to experience while doing the bush walk to see them both within the Tangoio Falls Scenic Reserve.

Each waterfall featured distinctly different characteristics.

Tangoio_Falls_011_11152004 - Tangoio Falls
Tangoio Falls

For starters, Tangoio Falls was the first waterfall we saw, which was said to have a cumulative drop of 25m.

It consisted of three sections where the falls fanned out into three segments at its middle tier before converging for its final drop hidden in the bush below.

Te Ana Falls, which was the other waterfall, was shorter at 10m, but it featured a nice plunge in a secluded cove.

Of the two waterfalls, Julie and I thought Te Ana Falls was the more attractive one despite its smaller size.

Hiking to Tangoio Falls

Tangoio_Falls_001_11152004 - Julie walking on the wide track leading to both the Te Ana Falls and the spur trail leading up to Tangoio Falls and the White Pine Bush Reserve
Julie walking on the wide track leading to both the Te Ana Falls and the spur trail leading up to Tangoio Falls and the White Pine Bush Reserve

Our walk began at the well signposted tree-shaded car park (see directions below).

The track promptly descended then crossed a small creek before briefly rising up to a relatively flat track with enough foliage to provide sufficient shade on the relatively sunny day that we did this hike.

After about 10-15 minutes of the flat section of track, we then encountered a signposted junction.

We opted to turn right first to go uphill, which induced a bit of heavy breathing and sweating as it climbed for the next 20 minutes or so.

Tangoio_Falls_004_11152004 - Julie climbing the uphill track to Tangoio Falls and White Pine Bush Reserve
Julie climbing the uphill track to Tangoio Falls and White Pine Bush Reserve

The track was also narrower and a bit rougher in stretches, which further conspired to slow us down.

The climb ended at another junction with a signpost where we opted to go right to the falls lookout on our right.

Had we opted to go left, we would have gone towards the White Pine Bush Track.

The Department of Conservation strongly recommended against shortcutting to that section of the reserve directly from the state highway due to erosion.

Tangoio_Falls_006_11152004 - Julie checking out Tangoio Falls from its lookout platform
Julie checking out Tangoio Falls from its lookout platform

In any case, just a few paces to the right of the junction led us right to a wooden lookout platform with a decent top down look at Tangoio Falls.

This was the only place we could experience the falls as it didn’t seem like there was reasonable access to get closer to its overgrown base.

Detour to Te Ana Falls

When we had our fill of Tangoio Falls, we then went back down the way we came.

Next, we turned right at the junction at the bottom of the hill to take the path we didn’t take earlier.

Tangoio_Falls_023_11152004 - This was the attractive Te Ana Falls, which was the second of the waterfalls that we saw in the Tangoio Falls Scenic Reserve
This was the attractive Te Ana Falls, which was the second of the waterfalls that we saw in the Tangoio Falls Scenic Reserve

After another 100m (barely a couple of minutes or so), the track ended right before the attractive Te Ana Falls, which sat right at the head of the small gorge-like cove that we were in.

This was the kind of spot where we easily could have just chilled out and basked in the serenity, especially since the plunge pool seemed deep enough for a soak.

The total time we took on this bush walk was roughly 90 minutes.

Authorities

Tangoio Falls and Te Ana Falls reside in the Tutira area near Napier in the Hawke’s Bay region of North Island, New Zealand. They are administered under the jurisdiction of the Department of Conservation. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.

Tangoio_Falls_043_11152004 - Sign at the trail junction after passing through a flat and shaded bush track.  We started off by keeping right at this junction to reach the Tangoio Falls first
Tangoio_Falls_002_11152004 - Julie climbing the fairly steep uphill path to Tangoio Falls
Tangoio_Falls_005_11152004 - Finally at the top of the climb where we encountered this sign at the next junction, where we kept right to check out Tangoio Falls
Tangoio_Falls_008_11152004 - Looking down at the strandy Tangoio Falls from the lookout platform
Tangoio_Falls_015_11152004 - Broad look at the context of Tangoio Falls as seen from its lokout deck
Tangoio_Falls_017_11152004 - Julie headed back down the track en route to Te Ana Falls after having had her fill of the Tangoio Falls Lookout
Tangoio_Falls_018_11152004 - Julie looking up at the attractive Te Ana Falls
Tangoio_Falls_032_11152004 - Another look up at the Te Ana Falls from its base


We drove to the Tangoio Falls Scenic Reserve from Napier so that’s how we’ll describe this route.

From Napier, we drove north on SH2 for about 23km.

The well-signed car park was on our right, just before SH2 would make a very sharp hairpin bend as the road started to ascend.

Tangoio_Falls_044_11152004 - The well-signed turnoff by the SH2 for the car park of the Tangoio Falls Scenic Reserve
The well-signed turnoff by the SH2 for the car park of the Tangoio Falls Scenic Reserve

We started looking for the car park shortly after SH2 veered away from the Hawke’s Bay coastline and headed more inland into more forested scenery.

For some added context, Wairoa was over 90 minutes drive along SH2 to the northeast of Napier and less than 30 minutes drive north of Hastings. From a more macro point of view, Napier is about 5 hours drive to the southeast of Auckland and about 4 hours drive north of Wellington.

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Tagged with: tangoio, te ana, hawkes bay, napier, bay view, wairoa, hastings, north island, new zealand, waterfall, white pine



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Johnny Cheng

About Johnny Cheng

Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
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