Waitomo is a Maori word. Wai means water and tomo means hole or shaft so it basically means “water passing through a hole.” There are 300+ mapped caves in this region but Waitomo’s claim to fame is the glowworms inside the caves. Really they aren’t worms, but insect larvae which glows through bioluminescence. They feed on insects and when an insect gets into the cave it will think the lights from the glowworm are stars in the sky. Because insects instinctively try to get to the most open space, they will fly to the lights, but then will get stuck in the larvae’s webbing.
The beautiful rolling hills of Waitomo
The larvae’s hanging “web.” Insects will get stuck in this web and become the larvae’s dinner.
My attempt at photographing the glowworms.
This is a photo that the tour company sent me. They had a professional photographer take it so it came out much better than my attempt. It’s absolutely surreal inside those caves!
Another photo sent to me from the tour company. A much better representation than what I got.
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