Kaniwhaniwha Cave Mount Pirongia

Kaniwhaniwha Caves River

The Kaniwhaniwha cave walk is part of a larger net work of walking tracks on Mount Pirongia in the Waikato, the carpark is on the Limeworks Loop road just before the old bridge. The first part of the walk in on an access road you have to follow this road for around 30 minutes before you reach the main track.

The access road follows the Kaniwhaniwha river for most of the way, this road goes to the camping ground that is located further up the track, there are around twenty or thirty camping sites here for tents only there are basic ammenities like a toilet block and water.

Once you enter the forest there are stunning native trees like Rimu and Kauri located in dense native bush and the track follows several streams for most of the walk, the caves are around 50 minutes walk from the carpark, the entrance is narrow really narrow and you need to walk on your hands and knees to enter the cave, the entrance was flooded when we arrived as it was raining so we did not enter the cave system.

The cave area is the start of the Bell track this track will take you to the summit, while the walk to the cave area is easy the bell track is alot more difficult with tree roots every where and very slippery in the wet the summit walk is around 8 hrs one way and we were not going to attempt the summit in the rain, so we returned to where the Nikau walk starts around 10 minutes back down the track from the cave.

The Nikau track is a loop track and adds around another 30 minutes to the walk, this track is through more beautiful native bush and alot of Nikau palms, you eventually arrive at the Kaniwhaniwha camp site, here there is the start of the Tahuanui track this track follows a ridge line to the summit around 5 hrs one way, the Nikau walk loops back down the access road on the other side of the campsite and past where you entered the forest.

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Author: Andrew BergersenWebsite: https://www.newzealandexperience.co.nzEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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