The Legendary Black Water River Rafting Co

Glow worms are extraordinary! The eggs are placed by the mother in a group of 20, the first one of the larvae that hatches eats its brothers and sisters. The larvae then creates a silk like spiderweb string hanging from the surface, by which is catches flies and other insects. The insects are attracted by their 'glow'. The larvae excrete glowing feces, which make the ceiling of the caves glowing a clear and magical blue. After nine months the larvae turn into an adult fly, which flies out of the cave. The adult has one disadvantage though, it does not have a digestive system. No mouth, no anus, so they only live for 2-3 days. So what do you do when you have little time? Yes, mate! The males search females and basically exhaust themselves in order to get new glow worms into the world, not the worst way to go I would say. The female then lays eggs in the caves and the cycle starts anew.

All this is going on in the area of Waitomo. What the Legendary Black Water Rafting Co does, is heist people into a wetsuit and again a harness, and make a nice tour through the caves. First a 30 m abseil, then a flying fox beneath a sky of glow worms. Then a tube ride on the water, followed by a walking tour through the caves and after five hours climbing to the exit while being showered by underground waterfalls! What you see in the picture is the training ground just before we entered the caves, which shows me and three random British people at the start of our adventure.