Te Matau-a-Māui Voyaging Waka Sets Course For Samoa As Part Of Te Hokinga - The Return

Te Matau-a-Māui, the Ngāti Kahungunu double-hulled voyaging waka is preparing for the first of two traditional voyaging journeys across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Owned by Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc and operated by the Ātea a Rangi Educational Trust, the voyage will span five years, and is termed Te Hokinga - The Return.

Te Matau-a-Māui will retrace the ancestral pathways of the Tākitimu waka, the principal ancestral waka of Ngāti Kahungunu. The voyage reflects the return of Tākitimu descendants to historical landmarks, ancestral knowledge and traditions that shaped Tākitimu and its people prior to its arrival in Aotearoa.

Te Hokinga acknowledges the ancestral whakapapa (genealogy) that links Ngāti Kahungunu to the wider Pacific and honours the islands where the waka once rested, was renamed, and the longstanding relationships that continue today.

At the heart of Te Hokinga is the return of the descendants of the tīpuna waka to Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, according to Piripi Smith (Ngāti Kahungunu), master navigator and founder of Ātea a Rangi Educational Trust.

“Through ceremony, wānanga and kōrero with local communities, our crew will connect with whānau and villages who descend from this waka to hear their stories of Tākitimu that continue to be told today,” says Smith.

The voyage includes the graduation of two trainee navigators, siblings Te Kaha Hawaikirangi and Te Pō Mārie Hawaikirangi-Willison. From 2013 when Te Kaha began his navigation training, and 2019 with Te Pō, they both have trained under the tutelage of Smith. On this journey they will use traditional navigation methods, relying on the stars, sun, moon, winds, ocean swells and bird life, to find the islands of significance to their ancestral history.

“There will be two graduation sails for the kaiwhakatere waka, Te Kaha must “fish up” the island of Upolu in Samoa from Aotearoa. Te Pō Mārie will undertake her own graduation sail, navigating from Fiji to Te Ika a Māui in Aotearoa,” says Smith.

Rangatahi aged 12 to 22 are currently in training alongside their parents and will participate in stages of the 2026 voyage, as part of maintaining intergenerational knowledge transfer .

To complement the voyage, Ātea a Rangi Educational Trust is providing educational resources to support the collection of mātauranga. Resources include a graphic novel about the homelands and voyages of Tākitimu waka, and an activity book aligned to Te Marautanga o Aotearoa and the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum.

For more information on the voyage or its resources visit www.atea.nz/vakamoana

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