December 27, 2023: A Sky Full of Gnats
After an epic hike on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, it was time for the other big adventure of the New Zealand trip: the glow worm caves.
The district of Waitomo is home to more than 200 karst limestone caves. Many of these caves are full of glowworms, making them a unique spectacle.
There are many ways to visit these caves. The most popular attraction is a collection of three caves known as the Waitomo Caves. The three caves are Ruakuri, Aranui and Waitomo Glowworm Caves (confusing I know). When visiting you can visit any combination of the three caves. The Waitomo Glowworm Caves are the main cave of the three and include walking and an underground boat ride underneath the glowworms. The Ruakuri has cave formations and glowworms, but only includes walking. The Aranui cave has impressive formations but no glowworms since there is no water. The feedback from friends and other tourists is that is is cool but you feel like you’re being shuttled through.
A more adventurous way to explore the caves is by “blackwater rafting” which is not actually rafting but rather floating in an inner tube along the subterranean river. The Waitomo Caves offer a blackwater rafting experience through their company the Legendary Blackwater Rafting Company.
Besides the main company, there are other companies offering tours of their own glowworm caves. One of these is the Kiwi Rafting Company which offered a 4-hour blackwater rafting and caving tour for only slightly more than the main company. This seemed like the more interesting tour and a better value per the time spent in the cave, so I decided to go for it. I made my booking more than a month in advance since this was the high season.
The Kiwi Rafting Company is located 20 minutes from the Waitomo Caves and just under two hours from Taupo. I arrived 30 minutes before the scheduled departure at 9:00.
After signing the paperwork, I met out group of six plus a guide. Well, more like waved to the group because nobody wanted to talk.
We started by getting outfitted with wetsuits, booties, harnesses, and a helmet with headlamp. We then got into a van and drove 5 minutes to the cave entrance.
Once there, we put on our harness and practiced abseiling (using a rope to descend a rocky face). It was then time to do the real thing. We stepped to the edge of a platform and descended 27 meters (88 feet) into the earth.
The chasm was essentially a gash into the earth. The sky was visible above and sunbeams steamed into the upper reaches. The bottom of the cave was a river with two directions to go. We started upriver.
The river was too deep to wade so to continue upstream we took inner tubes and pulled ourselves along using a rope affixed to the cave wall. After 10 minutes of roping and walking, we were in a chamber devoid of any natural light.
On our guide´s signal, we turned off our headlamps and suddenly we could see the glowworms. They covered the ceiling like a bright night sky in the desert. The light comes from the glowworms which are actually not a worm but rather the larval stage of a fungus gnat (glowworm is used because it sounds nicer than glow-gnat).
The gnats produce bioluminescence through an enzyme created in their stomach. They use the lights to attract prey to a silk snare that resembles a strand of spiderweb. In the presence of natural light, the gnats can turn off their own light to conserve energy. Contrarily, the gnats can increase their luminosity in the presence of specific sounds. The guides were able to create those sounds by slamming an inner tube on the water.
After oohing and aahing at the glowworms, it was time to begin the spelunking (caving). We pulled ourselves through a narrow crawlspace. As a tall human, I was reminded once again that I am not built for caves.
We then got in our inner tubes and floated under the “night” sky past the entrance shaft and further downstream for about 400 meters underneath even glowworms. There, we did another harder spelunking move.
Then we took photos with the glowworms and drank some tea.
Finally, we headed back to the entrance to rock climb out of the cave. Tired but exhilarated, I got back in the car and drove to Rotorua.
Final Thoughts:
What an epic adventure with Kiwi Rafting Company! The glowworms were amazing but also, I enjoyed the rock climbing, the inner tubing and the caving. While the tour was between $50-100 NZ more than the normal Waitomo Caves tour, I felt like it was worth it for the adventure and the extra time spent in the cave. While billed as rafting, it is really just floating on an inner tube. Still a magical experience but kind of false advertising. Going with a small group also meant that we were alone in the cave, and it felt like we were the first explorers there.
Due to obvious logistical reasons, you are not allowed to take your own photos. The photos from the company were reasonably priced, but of not great quality (due to the type of camera and in one case water getting on the lens). That´s the only thing I think could be improved.
Anyways, if you there is one takeaway from this blog post: do the rafting!
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