thumb|300px|The Hakarimata range is visible in the background, with the Waikato River passing through Ngāruawāhia in the foreground.
Hakarimata Range is a range of hills on the western edge of Ngāruawāhia township, in the Waikato region of New Zealand, overlooking the confluence of the Waikato and Waipā Rivers. The Hakarimata Range is separated from the Taupiri Range by the Taupiri Gorge, through which the Waikato River flows.
After the invasion of the Waikato, parts of the Hakarimatas were confiscated in 1864. of native forest on the range are protected as a scenic reserve. A council supported community group, the Hakarimata Restoration Trust, created in 2001, is helping care for the range.
Location
Although now usually applied to the hills immediately west of Ngāruawāhia, maps such as Hochstetter's of 1859, the 1925 geology map and 1944 one inch map show 'Hakarimata Range' as extending south to what is now SH23. Similarly, old accounts describe the Whatawhata-Raglan road as passing over the Hakarimatas.
Name
Hakarimata's name derives from a 17th-century feast, when Ngāti Maniapoto joined the local Waikatos to celebrate the birth of a child. There was a mountain of raw forest foods; hence the name Hākari-kai-mata (uncooked food mountain), condensed to Hakarimata.
Geology
Hakarimata is part of the roughly north - south Kawhia Syncline (Taupiri to the north, Kapamahunga to the south), though the Hakarimata Anticline is at about a 30° angle to the rest of the syncline, probably due to strike slip movement along the Waipa Fault, Late Triassic Newcastle Group, sandstones, siltstones and greywacke have been folded, faulted and covered by other sedimentary rocks to form the Hakarimatas. and peripatus are among the species in the bush. 16 species of native fish include short and longfinned eels and banded, short-jaw and giant, kōkopu.
Pests
Since the land was reserved (from 1905 onwards), the fringe areas and lower slopes have slowly regenerated after suffering light logging, fires, pigs, goats, possums, cats, hedgehogs, rats, mice, stoats, weasels and ferrets, with occasional deer and wallaby. Goats, possum and rats are controlled, About of privately owned forest adjoin the reserve, some of which is protected by covenant. Kauri dieback disease
Fire is also a threat. In 2017 an area of 600 by 300m on a ridge beside the quarry was burnt.
Quarry
The large quarry at 181 Waingaro Road, Ngāruawāhia, opened in a quarry reserve in 1948 It was bought by Brian Perry Ltd in the 1980s and sold to Fulton Hogan in 2016. An extension which would have doubled the size of the quarry wasn't permitted in 2008. It would have taken native trees estimated to be 800 years old. The quarry then employed 13 and supplied about 35% of the area's needs. following which bait stations were put in the area in 2011 and the quarry was given Mimico Environmental Awards for that and, in 2018, for extending native fish passage.
Tracks
thumb|Tomokanga at entrance to Waterworks Walk and Summit Track
The range has been used for recreational rambling since at least 1892.
There are two main walkways through the range, allowing excellent views of the Waikato Plains below. The main one is Hakarimata Walkway (12 km, 7 hr 30 min) along the ridge from Parker Road at the northern end to the Hakarimata Rail Trail (off Waingaro Rd) at the south. where a viewing tower offers vistas towards the coast, across the Waikato Basin and to Ruapehu on a clear day. The remainder of the track south to Hakarimata Rail Trail (3.5 km, 2 hr) can be linked by a 1.8 km walk along Waingaro Road back to Brownlee Ave. estimated to be over a thousand years old. The Southern Lookout has views of Huntly and the north Waikato lakes, Hamilton and Tongariro on a clear day. was added near the beginning of the walk.