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layout, title, category, date
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| post | Waitomo Glowworm Caves |
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2021-11-16 22:30:00 +0200 |
We are surrounded by flesh eating, cannibalistic glowworms in a dark, wet cave in the middle of nowhere.
Declared our guide as our group, newly formed and bonded only by these bizarre circumstances, floated in big rubber donuts like small, pathetic ducklings. The chamber we were in was very small - only two people could walk side by side, and only one helpless duckling could float. I was lying on my back as low as I could - else my nogging would have met the worms on the ceiling personally. That was in Waitomo, a short but definite highlight of my journey in Aotearoa.
Formed in the soft rock of limestone of rural King Country hills lay the Waitomo caves ( Wai meaning water, tomo meaning shaft or sinkhole ). I'd arrived the day prior on a bus from Hamilton and been dropped off in a town so small the bus drove past it in a mere eight seconds. I'd stumbled my way into a large, wooden hostel on a grass hill where I had stayed for but a night.
Waitomo is amongst the smallest settlements I've ever seen - tied with National Park near the Tongariro and Oban, on Rakiura.
The surrounding caves, still held in Maori possession as they had been for centuries, are a major breeding ground for the New Zealand glowworms. But what is all the fuss about mere worms?
Perhaps my (poor) image will get the point across:
Shot in Ruakuri cave - with my basic gear, this picture is nothing short of miracolous!
The worms are biolumiscent, preying on insects straying into the caves by attracting them with their glow. In Waitomo, they are particularly populous and the caves particularly large - and so they light the great dark halls in the thousands like stars in the night sky. It is a stunning, surreal sight - pictures really do not do it justice.
On the very afternoon of my arrival I went off to see the worms in the easiest way possible - in Ruakuri Cave.
It's a touristy spot - they really went all-in with the drama in the cave's entryway.
Despite my basic DSLR and lens, I even managed to capture some idea of what you see in the cave. The glowworms themselves are everywhere, and you can't really figure out what they look like until they're put right in the spotlight:
Not particularly pretty now, are they?
In Ruakuri lies an underground lakes, where local guides paddle boats full of stunned tourists and float in complete silence under the might of the worms. No matter how many people there are, say the guides, and no matter how loud - inside, one can hear only the soft paddles of the oar, and see only the brilliant blue light on the ceiling.
The caves themselves are quite impressive too - these large, natural chambers even have natural openings and were mostly undisturbed since discovered.
Some caves were also a place of controversy - owned by the owners of the lands they were discovered under, who refused at first to sell them to the government.
On the following day followed one of the highlights of my trip - blackwater rafting in the black labyrinth. Under the guidance of two very cool local guides, myself and a group of other young folk were stuffed into wetsuits, briefed and pushed off the bridge into the Waitomo stream, drifting quite helpless into the caves. My jump was stunningly bad, thank you for asking.
The caves are a natural route, and are incredibly claustrophobic - you barely squeeze yourself into the opening in the rock into a small, small chamber of cold, cold water - you routinely have to squeeze yourself in slender crevices - and duck in your floating donut lest you bang your head on the ceiling. The water is quite fast, but our loud, panicked kicks in the water held us in formation.
After establishing the flashlight routine, easing our panicked flapping and assuring us that no, no one has died in these caves, the guides shared many interesting tidbits about the worms. They are endemic to Aotearoa, and live outside caves as well. They only glow as larvae - for but three weeks - after which they transform into adult flies. The flies live but three days - as they have no stomach and cannot eat. They emerge, escape the caves (if not caught by their cannibalistic child brethren), mate and die of hunger. What a way to go.
It's only after some time, however, you finally start seeing the worms. Right above your head in narrow tunnels, and then in grand halls towering many times your size over your head, the worms spread in the thousands, eeriely bright and similar to the cosmos. Few experiences in my life were as surreal, memorable and mesmerizing as floating in utter darkness in the great halls of the worms.
The whole journey lasts three wet, cold hours - after which you change and enjoy warm bagels and hot soup. Delicious.
With the worms behind me put to rest, I continued onward from King Country into the Taupo mega-volcano - the geothermal city of Rotorua.