Waitomo Caves
Encyclopedia
Waikato
The Waikato Region is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato, Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the northern King Country, much of the Taupo District, and parts of Rotorua District...
region of the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, 12 kilometres northwest of Te Kuiti
Te Kuiti
Te Kuiti is a small town in the south of the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. It lies at the junction of State Highways 3 and 30 and on the North Island Main Trunk Railway, 80 km south of Hamilton....
. The community of Waitomo Caves itself is very small, though the village has many temporary service workers living there as well. The word Waitomo comes from the Māori language
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
wai meaning water and tomo meaning a doline or sinkhole
Sinkhole
A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the Earth's surface caused by karst processes — the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processes for example in sandstone...
; it can thus be translated to be water passing through a hole. These Caves are believed to be over two million years old.
Early history
The limestoneLimestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
landscape of the Waitomo District
Waitomo District
Waitomo District is a territorial authority in the north of the King Country region in the North Island of New Zealand. A small part of the district, the town of Tiroa, however, lies in the Manawatu-Wanganui region....
area has been the centre of increasingly popular commercial caving
Caving
Caving—also occasionally known as spelunking in the United States and potholing in the United Kingdom—is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems...
tourism from as early as 1900. Initially mostly consisting of impromptu trips guided by local Māori, large sections of cave near Waitomo Caves were later taken over by the Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
and managed as a (relatively genteel) tourism attraction from 1904 onwards.
Modern days
Today, a number of companies, large and small, specialise in leading tourists through the caveCave
A cave or cavern is a natural underground space large enough for a human to enter. The term applies to natural cavities some part of which is in total darkness. The word cave also includes smaller spaces like rock shelters, sea caves, and grottos.Speleology is the science of exploration and study...
s of the area, from easily accessible areas with hundreds of tourists per hour in the peak season, to extreme sport
Extreme sport
An extreme sport is a popular term for certain activities perceived as having a high level of inherent danger...
s-like crawls into cave systems which are only seen by a few tourists each day. A visit to Waitomo Caves made Number 14 amongst a list of 101 "Kiwi must-do's" in an Automobile Association
Automobile Association
Automobile Association may refer to:*Australian Automobile Association in Australia.*Automobile Association of South Africa*Canadian Automobile Association in Canada.*Dominion Automobile Association in Canada....
poll of over 20,000 motorists published 2007, and in 2004, around 400,000 visitors entered caves in the area.
Main caves
The main caves in the area are the Waitomo Glowworm CaveWaitomo Glowworm Cave
The Waitomo Glowworm Caves attraction is a cave at Waitomo on the North Island of New Zealand, known for its population of glowworms, Arachnocampa luminosa. These glowworms are found exclusively in New Zealand and around the size of an average mosquito...
, Ruakuri Cave, Aranui Cave and Gardner's Gut
Gardner's Gut
Gardner's Gut is an extensive cave system in the Waitomo area of New Zealand. It is located in the Ruakuri Caves & Bush Scenic Reserve, an area that also contains a number of other natural features of note. The reserve is administered by New Zealand's Department of Conservation...
. They are noted for their stalactite
Stalactite
A stalactite , "to drip", and meaning "that which drips") is a type of speleothem that hangs from the ceiling of limestone caves. It is a type of dripstone...
and stalagmite
Stalagmite
A stalagmite is a type of speleothem that rises from the floor of a limestone cave due to the dripping of mineralized solutions and the deposition of calcium carbonate. This stalagmite formation occurs only under certain pH conditions within the underground cavern. The corresponding formation on...
displays, and for the presence of glowworms (the fungus gnat Arachnocampa luminosa
Arachnocampa
Arachnocampa is a genus of four fungus gnat species which are, in their larval stage, glowworms. They are found mostly in New Zealand and Australia in caves and grottos, or sheltered places in forests....
).