We selected this Village for its closeness to the Rotorua City centre, the hangi meal and the concert plus other extras that made this appealing.
Having attended similar shows at Whakarewarewa (Te Puia and The Living Maori Village) I can now say that Mitai is the only one worth attending.
The welcome was excellent - we were very impressed with the ability of the "welcomer" to speak some 20 languages or more! The only downside was the intermittent PA system blackout and the traffic noise from the nearby main road.
There was a clear description of the timetable for the night. The song, dance, poi and haka performance was in a purpose-built replica of a genuine maori village which was the most realistic we have seen in over 50 years of holidaying in Rotorua.
We went to the Hangi pit and viewed the food that had been cooked for our dinner and on a short walk down to the stream where a crew of Maori warriors paddled a waka (dugout canoe) upstream to the landing, chanting as they went.
Then it was back to the banquet tent, past the crystal-clear fresh water spring where the water bubbles up through the sand continually...24/7/365. This water was also the table water we had with our meal.
The meal was excellent - the queues were short and we could take as much as we wished. Dessert too was excellent.
After dinner we all went on a bush walk in the darkness and viewed some glow worms - not many but it was a novel way to end the evening. The description of various medicinal plants in the bush was lost to some of our party as the groups were so large. This part of the evening could be omitted without detracting from this excellent value-for-money cultural performance.
Make Mitai (pronounced "Mee-tai") your No. 1 choice for a genuine Maori cultural performance!
Réponse de l'hôte
Mar 2020
Kia Ora OB1NZ,
Thank you for sharing your time with us at Mitai Maori Village. We thrive on giving our manuhiri (visitors) the opportunity to take a glimpse into our unique indigenous Maori culture through the sharing of our kai (food), cultural performance, sacred landscape and history.
We really appreciate all the feedback you have taken the time to write :)
We are pleased you enjoyed your experience with us and will ensure to pass on your feedback to our whole team.
Nga Mihi Nui
Te Mitai Whanau (Mitai Family)