Even though Nicola Toki is 47 years old, the joy the Forest & Bird chief executive derives from nature makes her seem more like an enchanted child. This is why she’s the perfect host for TVNZ’s top-rating nature show Endangered Species Aotearoa, alongside crack-up comedian Pax Assadi.
“We love lifting the lid on our amazingly beautiful, often-ridiculous natural world and we have a few laughs along the way – often at my expense,” grins Nicola. “I’d say things, then beg the producer, ‘Please don’t put that in the show!’ But of course those are the things that actually end up on screen.”
As well as being head of New Zealand’s leading independent conservation organisation, Nicola is also a published author and presents “Critter of the Week” with Jesse Mulligan on RNZ’s Afternoons, where her infectious charm makes her one of our most popular science communicators.
Utilising her passion and extensive knowledge of our nation’s diverse wildlife, Nicola somehow manages to educate and entertain in the same breath.
“In this second series of Endangered Species, we explore from the Hauraki Gulf to Fiordland,” she says. “We also went to Tonga and Fiji because country boarders don’t limit nature.
“Humpback whales migrate between here and Tonga, and the koekoeā [long-tailed cuckoo] and pīpīwharauroa [shining cuckoo] travel all over the Pacific to Aotearoa, which is why we have told some very beautiful stories about whanaungatanga in this series – about how people and nature are connected.”
Whether she’s slogging through a swamp or diving with giant manta rays – which both Nicola and Pax say was a life highlight – Nic delights in shining a light on vulnerable creatures both great and small.
“I’m the wrong side of 40, I drive a desk for a job and I’m never going to be a Victoria’s Secret model, but you can’t stop me from wanting to share the importance and beauty of nature through the magic of the camera lens,” Nicola declares passionately.
“So while it was tough filming this second series, it was also a massive tonic to be able to play, to be joyful and to have fun with Pax. It really helped keep my pecker up.”
Being an ambassador for our natural world – and “all the other nature frothers and bird nerds” – can also be extremely exhausting and Nicola is often stretched to the limit.
She sighs, “Lately we’ve seen the defunding of the Department of Conservation, the reform of the Resource Management Act and the appalling Fast Track Bill, which I call the War on Nature. I make no apologies for that because with the speed and volume of these changes and the lack of transparency for the poor old public, it’s like trying to drink Coke from a fire hose!”
Which is why Nicola, who lives in the North Canterbury district of Hurunui, is eternally grateful to her devoted husband Chris for the love and support he provides at home.
“When we first got together 15 years ago, Chris said, ‘I know you’re always going to have adventures, so I will be your ahi kā,’ which is the person who stays back at the pā and is responsible for keeping the home fires burning. That has been a constant source of relief and energy for me, to have my husband be my anchor.”
Being a mum to her son Hunter Manaia, who’s soon to turn 12, is also a blessing, as is being a stepmother to three adult kids, who have given her two grandchildren.
“Because I’m responsible for this little person and my moko, who call me Nana Nic, at the end of each day, I’m not stressed about the next iteration of the Resource Management reform because I need to read the latest chapter of Roald Dahl’s The BFG!”
Looking to the future, in spite of the “War on Nature”, Nicola says she will always be an optimist when it comes to the environment.
“Putting the Hauraki Gulf in the show’s very first episode was deliberate because we wanted to show viewers that nature isn’t something that happens somewhere else – it’s right on the doorstep of
our biggest city. Wherever there are people, that’s where nature is and we can all help to look after it.
“Obviously I’m a massive nature nerd. I’ll wax poetic about the breeding habits of the Canterbury knobbled weevil for hours on end to anyone who’ll listen. But what I’ve learned through my career in conservation and communication is that it’s the people, he tāngata, who can turn things around and who give us hope.”
Endangered Species Aotearoa screens 7.30pm Mondays on TVNZ 1 and streams on TVNZ+. To join Forest & Bird, visit forestandbird.org.nz.
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