The Legendary Blackwater Rafting Company Reviews

Did the black abyss, it was super fun and the guides were great and made it even better!

Brilliant day out. Ollie was a great guide who kept everything very relaxed even when encouraging us to jump off things! Seeing and climbing through the caves was a great experience too! Would definitely recommend.

Too wonderful to be missed! The best way to visit the Waitomo Caves.

FANTASTIC. I had the most wonderful time of it. I highly recommend this if you have time.

great time sitting in water, floating down the stream,

Very very cool experience for a reasonable price and food afterwards. Well worth it. Friendly staff and tour guides.

Tour was cool but was ran by a the usual bunch of nerds who think they're cool. Some were of course one or two job worths spoil it all... tour was out of this world (half day caving with glow worms)

Did the tubing tour. Was a ton of fun, our guides were excellent. Great views of the glow worms.

Just be aware it is very wet, and very physical.

The best caves I've ever been to and grate tour guides

Couldn't fault it. Thoroughly enjoyable and tour guides were a great laugh but still felt very safe with them. Lady at reception Megan was of an incredible help and a credit to the company.

Charles van der Pant

I always said I'd never do this... but I did and love it. Staff was great and helpful

Manuela and Katie are just awesome guides! Hope to see them in Europe.
The experience is nice for the glowworms AND the speleology (if you take the tube experience)

Amazing experience.
Loved the Black Labyrinth.

Super organized and with nice and competent guides. Would we do it again anytime!

Great experience and tanks to Big Dave for the tour

If you're anywhere near this, you gotta go. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had.
And the guides are very good, competent and funny.

What a fantastic experience. The tour was just great. It was so funny with the tour guides to explore the cave. At the beginning of the Black Abyss tour we got an introduction about the techniques of abseiling. After that the adventure started. The most impressing part was floating over the water and observing the thousands of lights of the glowworms. I highly recommend to do the Black Abyss tour. We did a normal glowworm tour in Te Anau. It was great too, but this one was much better!

Fantastic people. They look after you well. Blackwater rafting is such a great experience!

Total scam!
I've booked the trip with headfirst. It says that you are able to see couple caves and not only one and you should have some free time to explore it on your own, but there was no free time.

Great fun. Worth the visit and great people to take the tour.

The people working there were awesome. Excellent job, excellent people.
But black water rafting is not exciting. The climbing part was very easy. If you have not done any climbing, rafting, maybe, but still no

Awesome experience! The girls were great. They were funny and we felt safe the whole time! And the whole underground experience was just incredible. The abseiling, the glow worms and just the caves were so amazing. Thank you very much for that!

Very enthusiastic tourguides who double as Photographers make the experience very worth while.

OMG. This was 100% worth the 3 hour drive each way! We did the Black Abyss - which was abseiling, a short zip line, tubing, walking, and climbing through waterfalls! The glow worms were absolutely breathtaking. It is easy to see why this cave is one of the top rated in the entire world! Water was cold, but the wetsuits did help. This is a pretty strenuous tour so be prepared. Our guides were Matt and Aaron and they were AMAZING. great sense of humor and super helpful and attentive. Thanks guys for an amazing trip and memories that will last a lifetime!

Great tour, really knowledgeable and friendly guides

Beautiful place and experience, although the price is excessive

Lovely little trip. Beautiful glow worms, if a bit cold

Amazing time on the 3 hour black labrynth tour! Do the cave float, have an adventure! Allister, Mitchel and Rudy were out guides and absolutely great!

This is without a doubt the coolest thing I have ever done. Our guides Alistair, Hannah, and Christine were fantastic! The caves are spectacular and the guides make it quite comfortable 90m underground. We did the Black Abyss tour but due to low numbers, we also were able to do the Black Labyrinth tour. The caves can we quite tight in some spots but the guides are more than willing to cater for any kind of claustrophobia! The guides had extensive knowledge of the natural features of the caves, their formation and the history of the area. I would very highly recommend this to anyone, buy particularly those who like something a bit physical and a bit challenging!

Great way to escape the crowd of tourist and do something special. Be aware that it is cold and wet (is a cave and the glow worms like running water) and that the gear comprised of wetsuits is, as the name says, wet and therefore cold. The changing rooms and hot shower will help restore the body temperature as well as the soup and bagels in the end of the experience.
I did the 5h black abyss and Matt and Cian (Ciarne) where funny, knowledgable and did not spare efforts to inform, entertain, try to take good photos and keep everyone safe.
They did not forbade anybody to take their cameras, they just did not advise it since one could lose said camera.
For what I understood, the company is obligated to pay for the right to take photos, since they don't own the caves and they are just "renting" the right to use them. What our group did was, share the costs and forward the link to everyone's email.
About the experience itself, there is not a lot of thrilling radical emotion going on. But it does not take away the beautiful feeling of being in the dark in a cave, surrounded by water, silent, glowing worms and away from the crowds.
Would recommend always but adjust expectations regarding the thrill of the rafting/caving.
Thank you guys!
Joana

Blackwater rafting is a unique and exciting way to see the glow-worms. The wetsuit and layers will keep you warm enough. There's plenty of tight spaces, absolute darkness and a couple of backward jumps, so not for the faint hearted.

Amazing! We did the Abyss tour and it was the best 5 hours ever. Friendly guides, cool abseiling into the cave, tubing around the caves to see the glow worms and so much more. Absolutely recommend doing - we were super lucky and only had 3 people in our group too.

Really cool way to discover glowworms which fits everyone's needs and travel down to middle earth

We did the Labyrinth 3 hr black water rafting course with our guides Aaron and Dale. Highly recommend the company and the course. Plenty of fun.

such a great experience!
wonderful staff and great hosts ( Oli & Lucas)
Many thanks. Will be back for more ;)

This was awesome! I was first a bit skeptic to the rappeling down to a cave and squeezing through tight spaces but the guides were superchill and helpful. Had an amazing time here for about 3 hours underground, I did the Abyss. Highly recommend if you like climbing or play in water.

It s so fun, the whole New Zealand s most worthwhile trip, the process is exciting, the hands and feet are used together, and the girlfriend is having fun, and the scenery of the fireflies is so beautiful, it s been over five hours.

Really good place, nice tour and guide!! Book On klook cheaper!!!

My friends and I did the Black Labyrinth tour and we really enjoyed it. Mack and Tyler were great tour guides, making sure everyone kept safe and had a fun time. All the wetsuits, helmets and boots were provided before we headed off to the cave. There weren't any small spaces to crawl through on this tour, the caves were pretty spacious. Floating through the caves and looking up at the glow worms was an amazing experience, highlight of the day for sure!

I did the black abyss tour and it was absolutely incredible!! The guys that took us on the tour were so much fun and so attentive. Had an absolute blast doing this, one of my favourite things in New Zealand. Definitely do this if you love a bit of adventure!!

Great guides (Rob and Legs) and a fantastic series of underground adventures. Abseiling, zip lining, snacks, glowworm tube floating, water sliding, belly flopping, swimming, waterfall climbing... and then soup and bagels to top it all off. 5 hours underground well spent. One thing to note is that cave water is very cold, even in the provided wetsuit. Highly recommended.

A cold, uncomfortable, unique and fun experience. Very professional operation and our guides Jess and Sophie brought a lot of energy. You can't take a camera but they take plenty of pictures which you can purchase on a thumb drive. Problem is they charge $30, which is okay for a group of friends but extortion for solo travellers.

Amazing experience. The guides were great, and I highly recommend this.

Great experience, guides were very friendly and informative. Highly recommended to do. Bring your adventure self

Pretty expensive, but if you can afford it it's worth the price. Did some really cool things on the black abyss, and at least I had a few moments I got kind of nervous, in a good way.

Great experience overall exiting and interesting,
Only downside I would suggest -
is that since you can t bring your own camera and the staff force you into group photos and take close ups of your face inside a cave which makes the photos utterly ridiculous and pointless without grasping in anyway the feeling or experience.
We were two couples in a group and all we wanted were some couple photos of us and the other couple but instead were forced into group photos with strangers that unfortunately weren t able to communicate with.
Another note photos were very low quality in comparison to other experiences throughout New Zealand. Lack of light inside the cave is no excuse for a upgraded night camera that is waterproof for the hefty price and profit this business is making.

Really awesome experience. Worth every moment. It s way cooler than just walking on a ledge. The staff is awesome and walks you through. It s a bit scary at times but nothing you can t handle. Great experience!

Had the best time! Fun, friendly and experienced guides led a fantastic cave tour. Highlight of our trip.

Great! Did the Abyss experience and really enjoyed it! The staff were lovely, experience was really cool if a bit tame for me, next time I'll try the labyrinth!

Absolutely amazing! One of the best things I have done. The staff were very friendly and good with slower people like me. Do it!

It is really fun. Need to be alittle adventurous to go

Received such a great welcome from Kelli when we arrived. She was very knowledgeable and willing to answer any questions we had. Which really put us at ease as this was our very first time. She really made the whole experience amazing from the start. We will differently be back.

Great group activity and team building exercise. We had 19 personnel.

Amazing experience and really fun memory. Definitely worth doing this glowworm cave tour if you are looking for something that gets you right into the action caving. We did the Black Labyrinth, you are put into a wet suit (the water is COLD!), A helmet with a light and a tube to float in. You carry the tube for most of the ride, but get some great chances to float, relax and enjoy the view of the glowworms. Enjoy!

Incredible experience - had the best time wand felt completely safe with my guides!

Depending on the time you go, perhaps, it's less or more "flooded" inside the cave.On the day I went it was raining, which made for a somewhat of an extreme experience. I was not expecting to be jumping over sharp rocks in very heavy water current, and crawling through tight cave tunnels and spaces. Some parts felt very unsafe. Kind of like "at your own risk". Maybe it also depends on the guide and how extreme they make the experience. Our guide was a girl full of corny, forced jokes. But if you are capable and in normal shape and health condition, it is quite a unique, cool experience.
Also, there were just as many glow worms inside goldrush gold mines that are open to visitors in different parts of New Zealand.

Awesome guides, Alistair and Kelly were knowledgeable and humorous. Best caving experience ever.

This activity was GREAT. I wasn't very convinced of doing it as I get nervous in the dark but the experience was better than expected. We had done a glow worms tour in Te Anau and this one was way better.
Glow worms + going through a cave and jumping of waterfalls is a great combination!
We got hot tomato soup and bagels at the end. It would be great if they could give complimentary tea or coffee with it ;).

Went on the 3 hour tour. It was amazing and my favorite thing we did our whole New Zealand vacation! The guides were super knowledgeable and made me feel safe and secure. I would recommend this to anyone who goes to New Zealand and will definitely go when I visit next

Brilliant tour. Floating through caves with loads of glowworms.
The staff looked after us brilliantly. The wet suits are good but by the end you're hands may be pretty cold. Luckily you get hot soup and bagels at the end. The cafe serves lots of other food too.
They take plenty of photos while you're underground which you can buy at pretty reasonable prices.

Excellent value. Great guides. I completed the Black Abyss. I highly recommend this tour.

Simply excellent. You cannot leave New Zealand without having done this excursion. It is an unforgettable experience.

Tim and James, our guides, were awesome. They made the experience more humorous and exciting than it would have been otherwise. The experience itself was phenomenal and would definitely do it again.

We had a nice trip through the black labyrinth, but please don't expect real rafting. You just float around. The hot soup at the end of the tour was unfortunately a cold one.

Great tour guides and the glow worms were very spectacular. Floating along and watching them was very serene.

As we were super excited for the cave rafting we had boooked it from india and had our booking on 10 march 2018 but as we lacked information on the location of the cave head office and cudnt find out the location despite trying with google maps we had called their head office and none of them respond by morning 6:00 am (as our tour timings were at 7:00am). We had again called them at 9 0 clock and they had mentioned that our tour has being RESCHEDULED to the next day . Next day we had to leave from rotrua again at 4:45am to reach the location and i was asked to pay for rafting again even after explaining on what was spoken about rescheduling they then changed there words to be as rebooking and staff were very rude for no reason .Overall one of the worst travel experience with them. They donot deliver what they promise.please book with some other operators.

The guides are the ones that always make trips like this worth it, and my guides, sorry I already forgot your names, we're awesome. Warm drinks and snacks in the caves, hot tomato soup and bagels waiting for you when you get done. I went during the rain and cold and still loved it!

Phenomenal time! This was much much much more than we ever expected! We did the black abyss tour and it was filled to the brim with cave adventures and a great experience! Our guides were knowledgeable and instructing us on everything we did with a calm that only comes from years and years of experience repelling/caving.

Nice experience! Test the rafting in the water, even if it's a bit expensive, it's worth it

Great, it should all try, lost that nature is such. Fat fat

Awesome experience! A fun adventure, guides are very helpful so I always felt safe. Drifting along in the dark looking at the glow worms above was beautiful.

The Abyss Tour is pure magic. It makes for one of those days where you're overawed by the majesty of the Earth and our luck to inhabit it. (And to see the spaces underneath). Pictures do not do it justice, you just need to go and experience it yourself.

Just finished up the Black Labyrinth, it was AMAZING!!!! The guides are really nice and help you the whole way. Not once do you feel like you are in danger.

One thing to keep in mind, the water can get pretty cold and will most definitely get water up your nose :)

One of the best experiences in my life. Rafting inside the cave. It's difficult to explain with words.

The hiking adventure through the cave is almost as worth it on its own separately from the very cool glowworms. You get to jump off a couple of waterfalls and see some truly impressive sections of the cave and float in complete darkness for a stretch. Beware that even with the wetsuit, your exposed hands and face and even your covered limbs are quite cold by the end (during which time you've probably spent 90 min in the cave). But warm showers are provided after that feel fantastic -- consider bringing soap to shower off the cave smell.

Great experience! Highly recommend if in the area. Corey was an incredible guide, very knowledgeable on the caves and New Zealand culture. The soup and bagels at the end were a great touch.

One of the best things I did as a tourist my whole life.

Great experience! Lots of fun and a totally different and unique way to explore the cave system. Highly recommend, just prepared to be wet and cold!