Descending Deep into Waitomo’s Lost Cave

“Hidden among exotic woodland and guarded only by sheep, [Waitomo’s] Lost World cave entrance is a narrow crack in the earth,” writes Ben Hazell for the Telegraph. “Beneath lies an underground gorge pierced open by shafts of sunlight. Woodland canopy closes overhead while the slimy vertical walls, shrouded in patches of dark ferns, drop away to the thin silver ribbon of the river in the mist far below.”

“My group of four descended together, pausing for pictures and twirling to soak up the view.

“Finally we dropped with a crunch onto the mossy stones below and stretched feeling back into our legs. It’s an astonishing entrance, a dramatic split of rock, green and light.

“We moved deeper into the cave, deeper into shadow, using head torches now to pick out our footing, silhouetted against the brightness we were leaving.

“An hour underground we began to encounter other glows in the dark, the tiny green dots of the glowworms, hundreds clustered on the walls and ceiling.

“We arrived in the caves together but each ascended alone. The exit was up a ladder, 40m of wet narrow rungs which each took in turn. Given my signal I started my dark and silent solo climb, the focus now on inner and physical strength, step after step to the exit far above.

“And then up and out, back into the green Waitomo countryside, greeted by birdsong and lambs.”

Original article by Ben Hazell, The Telegraph, April 16, 2014.

Photo by Chris McLennan.