The hunt is only part of it
Southern Alps Safaris is me, Tony Barber, guiding hunters personally through New Zealand's Canterbury high country.
Who I am
This isn't a big operation, and it's not trying to be. I keep the number of hunts I run each season small on purpose, and I'm personally involved in every one of them. Where I bring in extra help, it's guides I already know and trust — not a rotating roster of strangers. You get my full attention, my read of the terrain, and a trip built around what you actually came here for.
I grew up in the New Zealand outdoors — hunting, fishing, and farming, here and across North America — and I've been guiding for decades. My dad, John Barber, was one of the original deer farmers in New Zealand, a founding member of the North American Elk Breeders Association, the New Zealand Deer Farming Association and the Elk & Wapiti Society of New Zealand. Hunting and land aren't a career I fell into — they're what our family has done for generations.
How I guide
I hunt fair chase — no shortcuts, no high-fence gimmicks. That's not because it's the harder way to do it, though it is; it's because it's the only way a trophy actually means something when you get home. Every trip is built around you: your fitness, your timeline, and what you're actually after. No two hunts I guide are are the same — each is customised to the individual hunter.
Last season I had two trusted guides from Colorado join me for part of the season — good hunters, good company, and it made for some of my favorite days in the hills that year. That's the kind of guide I bring in when I need an extra set of hands: people I already trust, not new faces. If you're coming from the United States, there's a decent chance we'll have people in common.
By the end of a week with me, you're not a client — you're a friend. I'll put you onto good animals, but just as much, I want you to leave having actually experienced New Zealand — with good food, good company, and a few laughs along the way.