Te Ana-au Caves

The Te Anau Caves ( māori: Te Ana -au - cave with swirling water ) is a 250 m long section of the Aurora Cave system, a culturally and ecologically important system of karst caves.

Geographical Location

The caves are located close to the western shore of Lake Te Anau in the southwest of New Zealand. They are of a stream, the Tunnel Burn, flows through. The cave system has four entrances, one of which is used as a tourist access.

Cave system

Description

The cave system extends to 4 levels over 6.7 kilometers. The caves in which about 30-35 million years old limestone are young in the Glowworm Caves with about 12,000 years of geological time scale. Known from other caves, stalactites and stalagmites are due to the low age of the cave and the high flow rate of the stream scarce. Secondary mineral deposits ( speleothems ) are present more in publicly inaccessible, drier upper part of the cave. Because of humus deposits above the caves has its water to a high content of carbon dioxide and slightly acidic water, which attacks the limestone caves of the rock and the constantly expanding.

Tourist use

The cave system was rediscovered by Lawson Burrows 1948. He found the upper input shaft because of references in legends of the Māori and early European settlers after three years of searching. The seenahe parts of the cave was opened up to tourists and tourist attraction of the region, as it passes through New Zealand " fireflies ", the larvae of the fly Arachnocampa luminosa (not related to the European fireflies ), settled in large numbers.

Since the caves are located in the Murchison Mountains, where the endangered Südinseltakahe lives, and the caves themselves are very sensitive, the access is limited. There will, however, daily guided commercial tours through the caves instead. For this purpose, a pier was built on the shore, which is driven by vessels from Te Anau. In a visitors' center connected there videos are shown on the " fireflies ". The visitors accessible part of the cave is accessible via a webs and stairs to the creek and electric lighting. After the very low access a waterfall and the 20 m high " Cathedral", the highest part of the Aurora Caves is happening. In the back of the cave visitors reach the water was dammed. Here, visitors will be towed in the dark in a run on a rope in the Glowworm Grotto Kahn. Here live some hundred fireflies, but also in the front part of the cave they are present in smaller numbers. The subsequent part of the cave can be achieved and is not touristy accessible only by diving through a siphon.

Biology

In addition to the fireflies live in the cave system also Höhlenweta, Langflossenaale (Anguilla dieffenbachii ), the small fish Kaoro ( Galaxias brevipinnis ), worms, spiders and arthropods.