Waitomo Caves

Tucked away beneath the lush hills of Waitomo along the north-western section of the North Island of New Zealand are the Waitomo Caves. A long, serpentine, highly interconnected system of subterranean caves are waiting to be explored by eager tourists from around the world. You can abseil through the caves, zipline through the darkness, swim through rivers that run through the caves, and even go black-water rafting.

The caves are also famous for the glow worms that inhabit them. Thousands of glow worms in the caves that rivers run through glow bright blue and eerily through the velvet darkness of the cave, creating a magical experience that has been described by many as New Zealand’s best natural attraction; quite an accolade for a country that is defined by stunning natural beauty.

The Waitomo Caves can be divided into two categories, the upper and the lower section. The upper sections comprise of dried, intricate cave formations that took shape over millenia undisturbed and the lower chambers of the caves consist of the underground rivers and streams, huge caves, and native Waitomo glow-worm. Tours of the caves can be taken and the tours are generally conducted by members of the Maori tribe whose ancestry discovered the Waitomo Caves and their renditions of discovering the caves lend a direct link to the caves themselves as you listen to their tales of legend.