For centuries, Pacific navigators voyaged across the world’s largest expanse of water in oceangoing waka, populating every habitable corner of Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, guided by a highly sophisticated navigation system that relied on a profound knowledge of their natural world.

Like many ancestral traditions, though, the knowledge of wayfinding and waka building was almost lost as a living practice, destined to survive only in historical journals and museums. Luckily for us, a small group took up the battle to keep them alive.

Their story is explored in Waka, a six-part online video series which looks at the revival of waka building through four teams from across the Pacific.

To launch the first episode — where we meet the carvers and their trees, and see the legacy of Northland kaumātua Hekenukumai Busby.

Waka is a six-part online video series produced by Tawera Productions in collaboration with E-Tangata and the New Zealand Herald as part of Tuia 250. It was made with the support of NZ On Air. A version of this story was also published in the Herald.