Great experience! - Ash is a great guide, knowledgeable and the type of guy you’d grab a beer with. Photography tour is definitely worth the money!

Amazing cave adventure that highlights the family trip - Down to Earth is the most amazing adventure in our 3 weeks family trip to New Zealand. Tour guide Ash is extremely experienced, friendly and knowledgeable everything about local environment. Big thumb up and highly recommend.

Amazing! - This tour is an absolute must do when in the area. We did the private tour so it was just our family of 4 along with the tour guide, Heath. Although it is a bit pricey compared to other tours, it is definitely worth the value. It truly was an amazing experience. The caves have been untouched and remain as nature created them. They provide all the clothing and footwear you need as you will get dirty crawling over the rocks and through the water. The attire adds to the experience. You must be relatively fit as you are crawling through crevices and there is a hike to get down to the caves and back up. The hot shower with drinks, snacks and conversation with the owners at the end was also a nice touch to complete the experience. A truly must do!

I would choose this company again for a glow worm tour - Most important to my husband in choosing which glow worm tour to take was his allowance to bring in all of his camera gear. So, we took the photography tour and we couldn’t be happier that we did. Heath ,our guide, knows every nook and cranny of his caves and we very much benefited from his knowledge. He’s also very good company. We also got lucky because Heath took tons of very good photos of us and then allowed us to download them for free! Which was so refreshing after being on tours that would try to make extra money from taking your photo.

Glowworms and photography!! What an experience - This is our third trip to New Zealand and our third trip to Waitomo. We absolutely love the glowworms. I also love photography, but the problem was taking pictures of glowworms is tricky and you could never do that on the tours, and we never really spent enough time viewing the glowworms. And then, I discovered Glowing Adventures which solved all that. We went on the private photography tour so we could have an opportunity to set up the tripod and take as many pictures as we wanted and that is exactly what the tour entails. You first walk through a beautiful forest for a bit and get to the cave. They give you complete gear, boots and clothes and you need it, because through the cave you are walking in mud and through water (yes, you do get wet) to get to the area where the glowworms are. Words cannot describe what it's like when you turn your headlamps off and you slowly see the glowworms appear. We set up the tripod there and, honestly, at this point I just let my boys take the pictures, I just gave occasional advice, and back and enjoyed looking at everything. One of our trip highlights and will definitely go again next time we return to New Zealand.

Glowworms + an Eel - We had so much fun. The worms are not nearly as vibrant as most peoples pictures might showcase. I have attached an image to give a better understanding. They make the caves almost look like a pitch black sky and they are the tiny stars off in the distance. It was so beautiful to just sit in the darkness at times and stare above while listening to the water move through the caves. A recent storm had moved through before we got there, wiping out most of the worm's long dangling webbing (not sure what to call it). We did find out while we were there that while they normally offer night tours during the summer, you can reach out to them during the winter time and request a night tour. This helps to get the cave entrance shot which has more glowworms (as you won't have sunlight spilling into the entrance to ruin your long exposure). We are so glad we went through this experience with Glowing Adventures as we had read that some venture into some of the other caving systems just on their own. While free is nice, safety and having the right equipment/clothing is paramount. This experience is so worth the cost. And added bonus, we got to see an eel swimming in the water as we were playing with light painting.

Great experience for a dedicated photographer - We had a private photo tour (2 people) in January 2019 - was expensive but worth it. As all the other tours forbid personal cameras (after experiencing two other tours, I can understand why: I would just spoil the experience for others) I was curious to see the difference at Glowing Adventures. Their photographic tours are always private, and that has a reason. I’m an ambitious amateur photographer for the last 35 years but to take pictures in a totally dark glowworm cave has been one of the most challenging experiences for me so far. Exposure times of 30sec. and more, experimenting with combinations of different settings plus a torch to illuminate some parts of the cave for a second or so to give it some structure…Well, we were in the cave for almost two hours and I took about 50 pictures – of which 10 turned out to be nice and 3-5 which I consider “decent”. Not something you can publish in National Geographic Magazine but o.k. for what I expect. See some attached to this review. They also send you in advance a very good script about what to prepare for, what gear to bring and tips & tricks. The preparation with all the clothes for the trip is great, the team is very friendly and helpful and they give you advice where the good spots for the photos are. The rest is up to you, your camera and your skills. Be aware, that it can be a bit boring for the “non-photographer” – except, if you need him/her for assistance (carrying gear, illuminating parts of the cave with their torches etc.). They have to stand/sit around while you doing picture after picture….and with each picture taking easily a minute or longer… The cave might have some less glowworms compared to the other two I’ve visited but the chance to have the place totally for yourself, switching out all light for several minutes and just to admire this wonder of nature is well worth it. I’m totally happy, that we did it!

Magical - The glow worms are amazing and it was fabulous to have an opportunity to take photos of the caves. Since the caves are pitch black it takes time to set up for the photo and then requires some skill to light paint the interior without detracting from the visible glow worms. The tour was fun and well run. While I was focused on taking photos the guide showed the other two in our group other parts of the cave. The hike to the cave was easy (mostly on a constructed walkway) through beautiful vegetation. We all had a fabulous time and enjoyed the conversation, tea and biscuits afterwards. They provided all the gear to wear into the cave so as to stay safe, warm and dry.

Very nice experience - We booked the day before for 3 people. We were with another group of 3 peoples as well. Our guide (i don't remember his name was really really kind ! We enjoyed this trip into the earth. From the beginning to the end, everything was excellent ! Starting in a lush meadow plunging into the forest and then into the cave, to finally get out in the forest again to arrive just at the office ! If you like caving, just do it ! You should be well fitted and in good health to do it. But it is a very nice experience. And the glowing worm are amazing ! Stay in the dark and just enjoy the water noise, crushing on the rocks while the worms illuminate the cave ceiling ! Nature's lover, this is for you !

The perfect match between sporty adventure and discovering - far from the beaten pathways, the caves are wild but secured ! We were a small group of 6 and the excursion is between sporty crossings and breaks for appreciating the beauty of the different places with a lot of comments from the guide. I brought my phone with me and took a lot of incredible scenes !