Black Water Rafting Waitomo
These spectacular caves are a must see in New Zealand! They are more than 30 million years old and offer a range of activities within; discover the glowworms by boat, abseil into the cave at night or try black water rafting.
Black-water rafting is a roller coaster ride on an inflated inner tube following subterranean rapids taking you down into the bowels of the Earth. The sport started back in the late Eighties in Waitomo.
The cold, dark and disorientation are free, part of the package. It involves abseiling into pitch-black caves and then white water rafting in darkness.
This sport was created in the late 1980’s and takes place in the Ruakuri (Black Labyrinth) Cave in Waitomo. This three-hour cave tubing adventure has you abseiling (rappelling) 100ft (30 Meters) down into a huge chasm lined with many spectacular types of limestone formations. A claustrophobic squeeze through a dank, intricate maze has you in to a vast cavern, a galaxy of millions of native glow-worms that light up the vast ceiling.
Once at the river, climb onto your inflatable tube and let the water carry you through tunnels that have been created over millions of years. Sometimes gently giving you time to take in the scenery at other times you race over rapids and eddies, with only a flashlight to show where rock ends and water begins…
Sometimes the water moves gently through caves pinpricked with the soft blue light of more glow-worms; at other times, the current spills you over rapids and eddies, with only helmet torches to show where rock ends and water begins…………
Black water rafting in Waitomo is a roller-coaster ride into the bowels of the Earth...
