The Sustainability of the use of Waitomo Caves for Tourism
For Waitomo Caves to stay as spectacular as seen in today's world, very strict regulations must be applied to ensure the sustainability of the caves is maintained for future generations.
To manage the amount of carbon dioxide that is with in the caves, to help prevent the natural limestone formations decaying, due to tourists and cave tour operators breathing when inside the caves, systems have been put in place to monitor the amount of carbon dioxide present in the caves. These monitoring devices are helpful to restore natural ventilation, by knowing when the cave supervisor needs to open and close the main door/vent to the cave. Other monitors are used to monitor the cave temperature, air quality, rock temperatures and humidity levels which help to counteract when the cave vent needs to be opened and closed. Sometimes, if the carbon dioxide levels are extremely high from a large number of tourists going through the caves, they need to be shut, allowing no tourists through, until the numbers are back to where they should be at. These monitoring systems have been used efficiently and effectively for the past 20 years. To help the prevention of lampenflora on the limestone formations, the cave use the absolute minimal amount of lights as possible. Where there are permanent lights installed, they are positioned as to not shine directly onto nearby formations and they are only turned on when entering each section of the caves, when needed, which are then turned off again as the tourists and tour guide head to the next section throughout the caves, leaving total darkness behind them. To hep with the breakage and erosion of the formations within the cave kept to bare minimal, there are barriers and paths on which the people walk through, instead of over top of cave formations. These barriers are made with long-lasting durable materials so that the cave conditions do not cause safety issues, unlike the old days, when the stairways and paths were made of wood which rotted in the wet climate. With new and improved barriers people are not at risk of slipping on slippery surfaces and risking damaging any cave decorations. There are also many handrails attached to the edges of the paths, for the safety of both people and the minimised effects of people touching the formations/cave walls. Attached to a lot of the handrails are sensors, that alert anyone who is leaning over or putting their body outside of the boundaries, that could potentially damage the caves. These alarms send out a loud beep until the person moves back inside of the railings. This is a very effective and sustainable way that stops people interacting with the caves in a way that could potentially damage them. The cave tour guides put maximum effort into ensuring people travelling throughout the caves on any activity, pick up and put away securely any rubbish/litter, they may create whilst in the caves. This is a great way of ensuring the caves are kept clean and tidy, so that future tourists throughout future generations can enjoy the way we see the caves today. There is also a qualified, environmental officer with specific full time employment and responsibility of maintaining the glow worm population, inside the glow worm cave, by monitoring the amount of glow worms that are inside the cave every 30 minutes, from photographic computer technology. If glow worm numbers drop rapidly, tasks are carried out to ensure the glow worms are kept in the optimal natural environment they should be in. Changing/adjusting elements, such as the humidity levels inside the cave, may be an example of a solution to maintain the glow worm population, to keep them in the ideal conditions as people travel throughout the caves, disrupting the natural environment they would otherwise live in. To ensure no oone breaks or damages any of the cave decorations and formations, there is a $10,000 fine in place for anyone who damages or breaks the very precious structures. Throughout the entire world there is approximately between 800-1100 show caves, with an estimate of only 10% of the world's caves believed to of been found, Waitomo Caves is one of the most sustainable caves in the world, that continues to be sustainable whilst allowing hundreds of thousands of people to still enjoy the natural beauty of the caves each year. |