Waitomo glow caves in New Zealand

These are the Waitomo glow caves in New Zealand, and they're named for the glowworms that inhabit them, Arachnocampa luminosa. The glowworms are endemic to New Zealand, and are around the size of an average mosquito. The walls of the caves are covered with a mushroom like fungi related to the genus Pleurotus. Albino cave ants and weta (giant crickets) also inhabit this cave system.

FB Top Comments | Wow! Just another reason to visit NZ.| Those are glow worms.... and you're....beneath them. | I haven't been to waitomo caves, but I have been to a smaller cave that has glow worms. They're pretty cool! | Reminds me of Sirens of Titan, when the space ship is stuck on Venus. | You have to be quiet to enjoy them, any loud noise and they stop glowing!! |  There are more creatures that use bioluminecense as communication than all audible methods, including each language for humans. I feel cheated. |
Been there! And you gotta do the black water rafting to really appreciate them. |  I wonder if feeding these to a scorpion would increase said scorpion's ability to glow under a blacklight... not that I would do that... | This is in the traditional tribal lands of my forebears. It is spectacular. And, yes they do Blackwater rafting |  Reminds me a lot of The Cave of Two Lovers from Avatar Book 2 | Everything we can imagine, is right here on Earth. A pity our legacy is destruction. | Been ther and loved it. Black water tubing. Rappelling. Caving. Seeing the glow worms. It is quite the outing! |
Unfortunately it's really expensive and not as cool as it looks  |  I've floated down that river on a tyre inner tube. Awesome experience. | Highly recommended, along with black cave diving. |  I live 40 mins north of the caves. it is an incredible place, we also get them on the banks of the Waikato river and in the hunua rangers. | I wonder if that glow wurms stuff can fall on your head if you in there? that would not be good... New Zealand is definitely the Elysian Fields of the modern world |  Two lovers, forbidden from one another, a war divides their people... and a mountain divides them apart. Built a path to be together... SECRET TUNNEL, SECRET TUNNEL, THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN, SECRET SECRET SECRET SECRET TUNNEEEEEEELLLL YEAH |
Screw school pack your bags and lets go see some glow worms and do some hiking in New Zealand! | I swear I have been into that cave at least half a dozen times if not more. Mostly for free back in the 80's and 90's whole showing tourists around. Certainly nowadays it's not free anymore to go in when you take a paying tourist. |