A farmer living right next to where a man's body was found north of Napier says he was shocked to see police all over his driveway this morning.

The body is understood to have been noticed about 9am by a passing truck driver on Matahorua Rd, 6-7km from the road's junction with State Highway 2 to the south at Tutira.

The road leads to Shine Falls - a popular tourist and visitor spot.

A nearby resident, Clark Chrystal says he was up watching television until midnight last night but didn't hear or see anything suspicious until he heard police sirens screaming up the road on Monday morning.

He came across a very bizarre scene this morning, with police and emergency services all over the place.

"It's right at the end of my driveway into the woolshed so I just drove down the end there and I saw the cops and that walking around. I went and saw them, and they just said it was a crime scene and there was a body in the drain in the long grass.

"It's quite bizarre really. I mean, [for] something like that to happen, it wasn't a car crash or anything like that so it just seems a bit bizarre."

Another resident of the area said he had heard a siren this morning and found police stopping vehicles on the road.

He had seen the body from a distance, and said it appeared to be male but he couldn't be sure.

There didn't appear to be any vehicle nearby which could be linked to the body.

He said he understood motorists and cars could have passed the scene without noticing the body and it may have been discovered by a truck driver looking down on the scene from a greater height.

Police are treating the death as unexplained at this stage.

- additional reporting Doug Laing, Hawke's Bay Today