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This is the story of Robin and Louella Hanbury-Tenison’s exploration of New Zealand on horseback in 1988. They rode alone together through what they describe as ‘some of the most dramatic and exciting country we have ever seen.’ For two or thee days at a time, Robin and Louella would map read their way by compass across some of the largest farms in the world, at one moment crossing snowy passes of over 6,000 feet, at the next baking in the dry summer heat of the valley floors. At night they would shelter from the rain and wind in primitive shepherds’ huts, brewing up soup and tea to keep themselves warm. But while they found scenery so spectacular it more than justified the description of New Zealand as the most beautiful country in the world, they found, too, a country in crisis. New Zealanders are striving in the face of new, often restrictive, world markets to lessen their sense of economic isolation and vulnerability and to cut their country’s large overseas debt. And serious environmental problems have, like those of the economy, hit the country’s major industry - agriculture - hardest. As President of Survival International, Robin Hanbury-Tenison was struck, too, by the fear and hostility shown to the Maoris by many of their countrymen, though encouraged by his constructive meetings with their leaders. But above all, as Robin and Louella entered the magic worlds of the remaining beech forests of the South and the even older kauri forest of the North, as they met and stayed with kind and energetic farmers who loved their land and worked hard on it, they came to feel a real affection for the country and its people. Fragile Eden combines with rare sympathy the romance of the adventure story with the stark realities of twentieth-century life.
