The Te Ana-au caves are a culturally and ecologically important system of

limestone cave A solutional cave, solution cave, or karst cave is a cave usually formed in a soluble rock like limestone (Calcium carbonate, with chemical formula ''CaCO3''). It is the most frequently occurring type of cave. It can also form in other rocks, inc ...

s on the western shore of

Lake Te Anau Lake Te Anau () is in the southwestern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The lake covers an area of , making it the second-largest lake by surface area in New Zealand (after Lake Taupō) and the largest in the South Island. It is the ...

, in the southwest of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. They were re-discovered in 1948 by Lawson Burrows, who found the upper entry after three years of searching, following clues in old

Māori legend 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 Co ...

s. It later became a major tourist attraction for the area, as the part of the caverns close to the lake shore is home to

glowworm Glowworm or glow-worm is the common name for various groups of insect larvae and adult larviform females that glow through bioluminescence. They include the European common glow-worm and other members of the Lampyridae, but bioluminescence al ...

s. The unofficial name used by the national

caving Caving, also known as spelunking (United States and Canada) and potholing (United Kingdom and Ireland), is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems (as distinguished from show caves). In contrast, speleology is the scientific ...

association is ''Aurora''. The caves are geologically young (estimated 12,000 years) and hence there is only one tiny stalactite. The

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 Co ...

name Te Ana-au can be translated as "The Swirling Cave" (''te'': the; ''ana'': cave; ''au'': swirling) in reference to the water running through it. The water, Tunnel Burn, is the outflow of Lake Orbell. Lawson Burrows and his business partner Wilson Campbell set up Fiordland Travels as a tourism company for their venture. In 1965, they sold their company to Olive and

Les Hutchins Leslie Hutchins (8 December 1924 – 19 December 2003) was a New Zealand tourism operator and conservationist. Together with his wife, he bought a tourism company in 1954 that is today RealNZ; it still remains mostly in family ownership. Hutchi ...

, who had been in the tourism business in Fiordland since 1954. The Hutchins took over the company name but rebranded in 2002 to Real Journeys. The company rebranded again to

RealNZ RealNZ is a New Zealand tourism company based in Queenstown. The company offers a range of travel, cruises and excursions in Queenstown, Milford Sound / Piopiotahi, Te Anau, Fiordland and Stewart Island / Rakiura. It also operates two skifie ...

in 2022. Since the caves lie in the

Murchison Mountains The Murchison Mountains () are a group of mountains in Fiordland National Park in New Zealand. It is the location where the South Island takahē, a type of bird presumed extinct, was rediscovered in 1948. The highest mountain is Mount Lyall at . ...

(where the endangered South Island takahē were rediscovered), and are themselves very fragile, access is restricted.5.14 Cave and Karst Systems, PDF 2,626K
(from the Fiordland National Park Management Plan, June 2007). "Access to the Aurora and Te Ana-au system will be controlled under Specially Protected Area status. One concession is considered appropriate for guiding visitors through Te Ana-au cave ...." Commercial guided tours by punt through the water-filled caverns run daily, operated by RealNZ.

References

{{Fiordland Caves of New Zealand Tourist attractions in the Southland Region Show caves in New Zealand Landforms of Fiordland Te Anau Fiordland National Park

See also

References