Climate
The weather in the park can change dramatically over the space of a few hours and over a few kilometres. Visitors should always be prepared for rain. The park has over 200 rain days per year, though different parts of the park receive widely different rainfalls. Te Anau, with 1200mm 40 inches annual rainfall is almost as dry as much of the eastern South Island, while Milford Sound, with 8000mm 320 inches annual rainfall, is truly rainforest and waterfall territory.
Understand
Fiordland is one of the least explored areas of New Zealand. Although the park has about 500 km of formed walking tracks, these barely scratch the surface. Like all of the New Zealand National Parks, it is managed by the Department of Conservation. The department aims to keep development to a minimum, consistent with protecting the environment and managing human activities to minimise conflicting needs. There are relatively few restrictions on individual visitors, though commercial activity is carefully, some might say strictly, controlled.
The main visitor information centre is in Te Anau. There are Park Ranger outposts at major visitor locations. Visitors intending to stay in the park overnight are advised to inform the park rangers of their intentions. In the event of an emergency, these intentions will be used as part of any Search and Rescue operation.
Flora and fauna
The area is so remote and unexplored that some speculate that species thought extinct in New Zealand may still live in the park. The Takahe, a flightless bird previously thought extinct, was discovered in a remote part of the park in 1948.
Additionally, the kÄkÄpo, the world's only flightless parrot, was found in to have survived by retreating into the fiordland. Since its re-discovery, a recovery project has been started using offshore islands that do not have any of the pests that have threatened its survival.
Sandflies, or namu, are an obvious and annoying demonstration of the insect life that inhabits the area.