Be spellbound by glowworms!

Board our van at the Spellbound Tower and enjoy a drive along scenic country roads to a farm 11km from Waitomo village. Here you’ll visit the fascinating Mangawhitikau and Te Ana o Te Atua Caves. We begin with a short walk into the Mangawhitikau gorge. Settling into our inflatable raft, you’ll drift serenely through our incredible glowworm cave.

Your eyes will quickly adjust to the darkness and you’ll be amazed at the effect of thousands of softly shining glowworms. We think you will be totally spellbound! Glowworms are interesting as well as beautiful and your knowledgeable guide will show you all their life cycle stages while you watch them move about and see them use their fishing lines to catch prey.

After the visual impact of the glowworm cave, you’ll have the chance to relax with a hot drink and biscuits before walking along to our second cave, Te Ana o Te Atua, to see cave decorations, fossil bones and the ethereal sight of sunlight shafting down through the cave’s many natural entrances.

The Spellbound tour is an easy and exciting adventure suitable for everyone, including families with small children. The tour is small and personalized and spaces are therefore limited to 12 per departure.

You can take photographs during the tour but flash photography is not allowed in the glowworm cave - mainly to protect the glowworms and also your night vision.

Customer comment on the tour:

‘Dear Spellbound,

Thank you so much for the brilliant glow worm tour, it was not only educational, but truly fascinating, those little creatures are amazing!! I felt the tour was so professional and such good value for money that I will be spreading the word around!! I couldn't believe how close we got to them and how many there were!! Our guide was so accommodating and knowledgeable that I had a really lovely experience.

Thank you so so much

Jess Bonce’y’

Spellbound is locally owned and operated by Pete and Libby Chandler, with the help of their wonderful and professional staff, Norm, Ross, Mark and Louisa.

Pete, an enthusiastic caver, started visiting Waitomo in the early 1980's. He completed his degree in Earth Sciences in the mid 80's, and moved permanently to Waitomo Caves after a stint of cycle touring around the world.

After working as a cave guide for the Waitomo Glowworm Cave for about a year, Pete was convinced an opportunity existed to develop a cave adventure. In 1987 with support from local cave owners, he began a tour he dubbed Black Water Rafting which involved floating on tyre tubes through a cave in darkness. Black Water Rafting became very successful and the words 'Black Water Rafting' became a generic term in the industry.

In 2003 Black Water Rafting was sold and Pete and Libby started a new business – Spellbound - that offered small groups of visitors a gentler, more sedate way to see caves and glowworms in Waitomo.

Spellbound is a Qualmark endorsed activity; Qualmark assesses safety and professional standards in the New Zealand visitor industry. It is also a member of ACKMA (Australasian Cave and Karst Management Ass.).