The article discusses the transformative experience of stargazing in New Zealand's Southern Alps, specifically at Lake Takapō, within the Aoraki/Mount Cook Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve. Highlighting The Dark Sky Project, co-owned by Ngai Tahu, it emphasizes the integration of Māori astronomy with scientific insights through a unique building. The mission of astrotourism is portrayed as a means to preserve darkness, crucial for both ecological balance and reconnecting people with lost cultural knowledge. Celestial guide Victoria Campbell emphasizes the holistic connection between the night sky and environmental health.
Pondering the vastness of the universe is part of the mission of this kind of astrotourism, where darkness is not simply the absence of light, but something that needs preserving, like our coastlines or coral reefs.
Victoria (Tori) Campbell, a celestial Māori guide and astronomer, sees the night sky as part of the landscape and a holistic system that connects to the environment and reconnects us with lost knowledge and to our ancestors.
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