Whakaipo Bay
Scenic reserve and girl guide camp
Situated on the northern shore of Lake Taupo between Acacia Bay and Whangamata Bay, you can access Whakaipo Bay from Mapara Road. This rural location is a beautiful scenic backdrop to Lake Taupo. There is a Girl Guide camp at Whakaipo Bay, and and a scenic and recreation reserve. The amenities at the bay include two public toilets, boat launching facilities, and a picnic table.
There is moderate fishing from the lakeshore, although the Mapara Stream is high in trout and koaro spawning. The rural landscape has sparse vegetation, but the area has pastoral, bracken-fern and pine plantations, with native fivefinger-kohuhu, and kowhai-kanuka forests. Whakaipo Bay has the most common forest birds including New Zealand falcon, Kereru (seasonally), quail in the exotic forests and black-backed gull that nest on the cliffs. The bay has historic significance, namely a Urupa (burial place) at the stream mouth and Waahi tapu sites in the cliffs and cliff top.