In a shallow reef close to New Zealand’s east coast shore, a group of 30 people wearing khaki overalls and boots huddle together like a crescent moon, waiting for the stars of the show to arrive.
They don’t have to wait long.
Six eagle rays and short-tailed stingrays – some weighing over 300kg - glide through the green waters to the group where they brush up against legs and, with the force of a vacuum-cleaner, slurp fish off submerged hands.
If the group had initially felt trepidation about encountering these animals in the wild, their minds are soon changed.
View image in fullscreen Guides do not know which stingrays will show up for the reef ecology tours near Gisborne. Photograph: Derek Morrison
“Stingrays are like big sea puppy pancakes,” says Bella, 19, who in January joined New Zealand’s only wild stingray experience, run by Dive Tatapouri near Gisborne.
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