The Kaimanawa Range of mountains (often known as the Kaimanawa Ranges) is located in the central North Island of New Zealand.[1] They extend for 50 kilometres in a northeast/southwest direction through largely uninhabited country to the south of Lake Taupo, east of the "Desert Road". Their slopes form part of the North Island Volcanic Plateau.
The land around the mountains is scrubby and of poor quality to the west, where the Rangipo Desert is located. Considerable areas of this land are used by the New Zealand Army for training. To the east, the soils are more fertile, but the land is very rough.
One feature of the Kaimanawas is the kaimanawa horse, a feral variety of horse which roams free on the ranges. Unlike the majority of mountain ranges in New Zealand, much of the Kaimanawa Range is divided into private land.