Bottom of the Lost World Shaft, Mangapu Cave

I converted this one to mono, because it was all grey anyway, particularly by the time I'd done some extreme photoshopping to recover the blown highlight.

You can probably just make out the two people sliding down the wires, I was at the base.

Waitomo Caves are about 300ft, 100m deep. This image was hand-held, Minolta X300 with Fuji ISO200 film.

This is a great shot, so moody and atmospheric

Thanks. I'm going again soon, maybe I'll try and get a better version - I was younger and fitter then though, so maybe I'll just peer in from the top...

haha! well, I'll be interested to see the shot!

Love the otherwordly mood in this shot.

Thanks. It was well worth the effort - it's far easier to go down then to climb back out.

Nice photo, Matthew! mysterious! all your BW photos are very interesting

Thanks... it's quite a spooky place. Probably even more so if you watch 'The Descent'.

Cool! This is the 'Lost World' shaft into the Mangapu Cave system near TeKuiti. I used to explore this place before it was a tourist cave. What they actually call the 'Waitomo Caves' are the Glow Worm Caves in Waitomo village. Thats where you take a boat through the famous Glow Worm Grotto. Those caves aren't very deep though. They've run tours through there since 1908. I used to be a guide there :)

Cheers Steve, hope the shot brought back some happy memories!

very nice

l

Yes, the Mangapu is a wonderful cave system. You can enter where the river does at the submergence, and from the towering entrance, all the way downstream, the passage is around 200 feet high. Its mostly swimming (or floating on inner tubes) with a wee squeeze along the way. I've been down (& up the main 300ft shaft, & the Spider Hole further upstream. I've also done the top streamway & a large section of the downstream section from Auckland Hole to Hamilton Hole. That involves big abseils, lots of swimming, and a sump free-dive too. I had a great time doing that section !