Waitomo Caves
The waitomo caves is a village and solutional cave system forming a major tourist attraction in the northern King Country region of the North Island of New Zealand, 12 km northwest of Te Kuiti. The community of Waitomo Caves itself is very small, though the village has many temporary service workers living there as well.
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| Waitomo Caves - Visitor Center Entry |
The word Waitomo comes from the Maori language wai meaning and tomo meaning a doline or sinkhole; it can thus be translated to be water passing through a hole. The caves are formed in Oligocene limestone.
Main caves
The main caves in the area are the Waitomo Glowworm Caves, Ruakuri Cave, Aranui Cave and Gardner's gut. They are noted for their stalactite and stalagmite displays, and for the presence of glowworms(the fungus gnat Arachnocampa luminosa).
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| Ruakuri Cave's spiral entrance |
Waitomo Glowworm Caves
The Waitomo Glowworm Caves attraction is a cave at Waitomo on the North Island of New Zealand, known fot its population of glowworms, Arachnocampa luminosa. This species is found exclusively in New Zealand. They are around the size of an average mosquito. The attraction has a modern visitor centre at the entrance, largely designed in wood. There are organized tours that include a boat ride under the glowworms.
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| Entrance to the Waitomo Glowworm Cave area |
Location
The Waitomo flowworm Cave ar located in the southern Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand, 12 km northwest of the Te Kuiti. This cave is about 2 hours south of Auckland, 1 hour of Hamilton, an 2 hours west of Rotorua by the car. The directions to the Caves are to exit State Highway 3 onto Waitomo Caves Road and to continue on the road for about 8 km.
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| Caves Entrance Waitomo Caves · Spellbound Waitomo |
History
The local Maori People had known about the caves for quite some time before the local Maori Chief Tane Tinorau and an English Surveyor, Fred Mace, did an extensive exploration in 1887. Their exploration was conducted with candlelight on a raft going into the cave where the stream goes underground. This is now the exit for the cave. As they began their journey, they came across the Glowworm Grotto and were amazed by the Twinkling glow coming from the ceiling. as they travelled futher into the cave by poling themselves towards an embankment, they were also astounded by the limestone formations. These formations surrounded them in all shapes and sizes.
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| Glowworm Grotto |
They returned many times after and Chief Tane independently discovered the upper level entrance to the cave, which is now the current entrance. Tane Tinorau and his wife Huti, by 1889, had opened the cave to visitors and were leading groups for a small fee. The administration of the cave was taken over by the government in 1906 after there was an escalation in vandalism. tin 1910, the Waitomo Caves Hotel was built to house the many visitors.
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| The Waitomo Caves Hotel |
In 1989, the land and cave were returned to the descendants of Chief Tane Tinorau and Huti. They now receive a percentage of the cave's revenue and are involved in the management and development o the cave. These descendants encompass many of the employees of the caves today.
Biology
The most renowned animal in the cave is the glowworm Arachnocampa luminosa. There are several small underwater lakes that were created by freshwater creeeks or brooks.
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| The larva of a fungus gnat. |
The walls of the caves are covered with a variety of fungi including the cave flower that is actually a mushroom-like fungus. The most common animals in the caves are insects. This includes albino cave ants, giant crickets, and of curse the glowworms.
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| Glowworm |
Guided tours
The gided tour through teh Waitomo Glowworm Caves brings the visitor through three different levels an begins at the top level of the cave and the Catacombs. The levels are linked by the Tomo, which is a 16 m vertical shaft made of limestone. The second level is called the Banquet Chamber. This level is where early visitors stopped to eat and there is evidence of this in the smoke on the ceiling of the chamber. From here it may be possible to link back to the upper level to see the largest formation called the Pipe Organ but on busy days this area is closed to the public because the build-up of carbon monoxide may be hazardous.
The third and final level goes down into the cathedral, demostration platform, and the jetty. The cathedral is an enclosed area with rough surfaces, now paved, and is about 18 m high, giving it good acoustics. A number of famous singers and choirs have performed here including Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.
The tour concludes with a boat ride through the Glowworm Grotto. The boat takes the visitor onto the underground Waitomo River where the only light comes from the tiny glowworms creating a sky of living lights.
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