Waitomo is a rural community in the King Country region of New Zealand's

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. There are several

solutional cave A solutional cave, solution cave, or karst cave is a cave usually formed in the soluble rock limestone. It is the most frequently occurring type of cave. It can also form in other rocks, including chalk, dolomite, marble, salt beds, and gypsum. ...

systems in the area around the village, which are popular tourist attractions. Restaurants and accommodation are centred in the village to serve visiting tourists. The word ''Waitomo'' comes from the

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

: ''wai'' meaning water and ''tomo'' meaning a doline or sinkhole; it can thus be translated to be "water passing through a hole". The caves are formed in

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

limestone. The historic Waitomo Caves Hotel is located in Waitomo Caves village.

History

The village Waitomo Caves is named for the hundreds of caves present in the spectacular

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

landscape. The limestone landscape of the Waitomo District area has been the centre of increasingly popular commercial caving tourism since before 1900. Initially mostly consisting of impromptu trips guided by local

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, a large cave system near Waitomo Caves were nationalised by the Crown and managed as a (relatively genteel) tourism attraction from 1904 onwards.Caving tourism
(from Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand) A 1915 guide said, "It is reached by railway to

Hangatiki Waitomo is a rural community in the King Country region of New Zealand's North Island. There are several solutional cave systems in the area around the village, which are popular tourist attractions. Restaurants and accommodation are centred in ...

, thence 6 miles by coach along a good road". A visit to Waitomo Caves made number 14 amongst a list of 101 "Kiwi must-do's" in a New Zealand Automobile Association poll of over 20,000 motorists published 2007, and in 2004, around 400,000 visitors entered caves in the area. The Waitomo Caves Museum provides information about the karst landscape, caves and caving and the history of the area.

Tourist caves

Companies specialise in leading tourists through the caves of the area, from easily accessible areas with hundreds of tourists per hour in the peak season, to extreme sports, like crawls into cave systems, which are only seen by a few tourists each day. The caves are noted for their

stalactite A stalactite (, ; from the Greek 'stalaktos' ('dripping') via ''stalassein'' ('to drip') is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble an ...

and

stalagmite A stalagmite (, ; from the Greek , from , "dropping, trickling") is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically ...

displays, and (in the caves with streams running through) for the presence of glowworms (the fungus gnat ''

Arachnocampa luminosa ''Arachnocampa luminosa'' (Skuse, 1891), commonly known as New Zealand glowworm or simply glowworm, is a species of fungus gnat endemic to New Zealand. The larval stage and the imago produce a blue-green bioluminescence. The species is known to d ...

'').

Walks

The Waitomo Walkway runs through the valley of the Waitomo Stream (a tributary of the Waipā River) for from the village to the Ruakuri Scenic Reserve. At the reserve the Ruakuri Walk leads through short caves to the Ruakuri Natural Bridge. Te Araroa, a national long distance walkway, passes through Waitomo. The section from Mt Pirongia joins the Waitomo Walkway to enter the village. The section to Te Kuiti goes over

Mangapu River The Mangapu River is a river of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It has its sources in numerous streams which flow generally northwards from the King Country south of Te Kuiti, the longest of which is the Mangaokewa Stream. The ...

suspension bridge and through Pehitawa kahikatea forest.

Demographics

Waitomo settlement is within Hangatiki statistical area, which covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km². Hangatiki had a population of 1,185 at the

2018 New Zealand census Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...

, an increase of 84 people (7.6%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 126 people (11.9%) since the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. There were 432 households, comprising 618 males and 564 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.1 males per female. The median age was 41.4 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 240 people (20.3%) aged under 15 years, 213 (18.0%) aged 15 to 29, 543 (45.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 189 (15.9%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 72.9% European/ Pākehā, 36.5%

, 1.3% Pacific peoples, 1.5%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, and 1.8% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas was 11.4, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 57.0% had no religion, 31.4% were

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, 3.3% had Māori religious beliefs, 0.5% were

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

and 1.5% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 138 (14.6%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 219 (23.2%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income was $34,000, compared with $31,800 nationally. 123 people (13.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 558 (59.0%) people were employed full-time, 165 (17.5%) were part-time, and 21 (2.2%) were unemployed.

Marae

The community has a number of marae, affiliated with Ngāti Maniapoto hapū: * Kaputuhi Marae is affiliated with the hapū of

Ngāti Matakore Matakore was a Maori ''rangatira'' (chieftain) of Ngāti Maniapoto in the Tainui tribal confederation from the Waikato region, New Zealand. He is an ancestor of the Ngāti Matakore hapu (sub-tribe) of Ngāti Maniapoto and of the southern branch o ...

Pare te Kawa Pare may refer to: People with the name * Emmett Paré (1907-1973), tennis player * Pare, former member of Kotak, an Indonesian band * Pare Lorentz (1905-1992), American film director * Richard Pare (born 1948), English photographer * Paré, a s ...

Ngāti Peehi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

and Rōrā. * Te Kauae Marae and Te Kauae o Niu Tereni meeting house are affiliated with the hapū of Huiao,

Ngāti Kinohaku Kinohaku was a Maori woman of Ngāti Maniapoto in the Tainui tribal confederation from the Waikato region, New Zealand. She is the eponymous ancestor of the Ngāti Kinohaku hapu (sub-tribe) of Ngāti Maniapoto and probably lived in the seventeen ...

, Ngāti Peehi and

Ngāti Te Kanawa Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

. * Te Korapatu Marae is affiliated with the hapū of Peehi and Te Kanawa. * Pohatuiri Marae is affiliated with the hapū of Uekaha. * Tokikapu Marae and Matua Iwi meeting house are affiliated with the hapū of Ruapuha, Te Kanawa and Uekaha.

Education

Waitomo Caves School is a co-educational state primary school, with a roll of as of

References

External links

* Waitomo Caves area in Episode 4 "Caves" of BBC's Planet Earth.
Waitomo Caves Museum & Discovery Centre
{{Waitomo District Waitomo District Populated places in Waikato