Waimangu Valley of Geysers

Waimangu is a valley of geysers and volcanoes located about 10 km southeast of the city of Rotorua in New Zealand. The Maori, long-time inhabitants of this island, named the valley Takiwa-Waiariki, which means “Land of Hot Water.”

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Highlights

Jets shooting four to five meters high shroud both the shore of Lake Rotorua in clouds of steam and the outskirts of the village, where red wooden statues of Maori gods with fierce faces and sticking out tongues line the only street.

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Sometimes several geysers strike simultaneously, and sometimes they “work” alternately, as if trying to surpass each other by the power of jets and the unusual shape of the fountain.

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Even on the streets of the town of Rotorua, the center of this geothermal area, you can see jets of white steam shooting out of the cracks of the sidewalks. Hundreds of hot and cold springs are found around the town and on the shores of the lake.

White siliceous siliciclastics.

The white siliceous deposits that decorate the openings of the natural fountains have yellow hues formed from hydrogen sulfide dissolved in the water. Unfortunately, not all of this not too fragrant gas is deposited in the form of sulphuric secretions, and in the air of Rotorua even on the approach to the lake can be felt its specific “aroma.”

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Origin of the Valley of Geysers

The Waimangu Valley of Geysers is unique in that it is the only one in the world about which it is known exactly when it was formed. On June 10, 1886, a massive volcanic eruption occurred on the local Mount Tarawera, killing several villages and virtually all of the surrounding animals and plants. After the eruption, thermal springs and powerful geysers appeared in the valley for about 15-20 years.The eruption of the Taravaera volcano almost completely destroyed all vegetation in the area. But instead of the dead grasses and trees here appeared so-called “thermal plants”, able to grow on hot rocks and in hot swamps, and even withstand high concentrations of poisonous chemical compounds coming out of the bowels of the volcano.

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Today, the Waimangu Valley is a unique nature reserve with several lakes with large geysers.

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Legend

According to Māori legend, the geysers were formed where two fiery sisters, Te Hoata and Te Pupu, emerged from the earth and came to the aid of the ice-bound Ngatoroirangi, one of the first Māori to arrive in New Zealand from Hawaiika, the legendary ancestral homeland of the Māori.

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Waimangu Attractions

Rotorua’s main attraction is its famous geysers. There are dozens of them, and the jets, shooting four to five meters high, shroud the shore of Lake Rotorua in clouds of steam, and the outskirts of the village, where red wooden statues of Maori gods with fierce faces and sticking out their tongues are lined up along the only street.

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Sometimes several geysers strike simultaneously, and sometimes they “work” alternately, as if trying to surpass each other by the power of jets and the unusual shape of the fountain.

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White siliceous deposits decorating the holes of natural fountains have yellow tints, formed from dissolved hydrogen sulfide in the water. Unfortunately, not all of this not too fragrant gas is deposited in the form of sulphuric secretions, and in the air of Rotorua even on the approach to the lake you can feel its specific “aroma.”

In the Waimangu Valley there is also a lake “Squashing Frying Pan”, which was formed as a result of a powerful volcanic eruption on April 1, 1917. The eruption destroyed a house and killed two local farmers. The eruption site formed a crater that filled with water and turned into a lake of hot water. The lake is constantly bubbling with carbon dioxide and hydrosulfate gases, making it appear to be boiling and making the sound of oil curdling on fire.

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Prince of Wales Feathers Geyser and Pohutu

Every 20 minutes, the Prince of Wales Feathers Geyser starts its show here – and that’s just a prelude to the main act, which is New Zealand’s largest geyser, Pohutu, which spews out a fountain up to 30 meters high. It is New Zealand’s largest geyser. Every 20 minutes, a fountain of hot water erupts from its 50-centimeter diameter vent. The eruption lasts for an hour, and sometimes even longer.

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Prince of Wales Feathers Geyser appeared only in June 1886 after the eruption of the Tarawera volcano, located a few kilometers away. It used to erupt just before Pohutu and was called the “indicator geyser”, but is now active almost all the time.

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Vakarevareva Thermal Park

On the banks of the Puarenga River spreads the Vakarevareva Thermal Park – numerous lakes with hot water, shrouded in steam and surrounded by mountains.

Giant ferns grow on the banks of the reservoirs. The juxtaposition of these botanical relics with geysers and fumaroles (these are cracks in the ground from which steam escapes) create the complete impression of being in the Earth’s prehistoric past.

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The Maori who lived here were clearly not a timid people. They built their village of Whakarewarewa in the heart of this unusual area, among the whistling jets of steam, gurgling hot springs, the roar of geysers and the roar of mud pots. And they tried to use the natural features of Rotorua: huts were built on sites with warm soil warmed from below, built pools where all year round bathed in hot water, and even cooked fish, immersing it in a kind of “avoska” directly into the natural boiling water.

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And nowadays hotels built here have pools filled with thermal waters, and heating in hotels provides heat from the earth’s bowels.

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Hinemoa Hot Spring

The Poirenga River, which flows into Lake Rotorua, is fed by cold and hot springs. In some places the springs do not have time to mix and when you dip your hands into the water, you feel both warm and cold at the same time. Hot springs come from the bottom of the lake. And on the island of Mokoya, located in the middle of it, pours the most famous and popular among tourists hot spring Hinemoa, bathing in which – a mandatory ritual for visitors to Rotorua.

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The locals also bathe in Hinemoa. For them it is an ancient sacred ritual that brings health and strength to warriors. Māori believe that every lake or hot spring in Rotorua is home to a taniwa-igarara, a dragon-like fairy-tale creature that guards its hot house from the encroachment of evil spirits. According to Maori legend, the moon itself disappears from the firmament once a month to bathe in the magical underground lake Aewa, which feeds the geysers. After bathing in its living water. The moon gains strength and sets off on a new journey across the sky. Therefore, the residents of Vakarevareva willingly bathe in the waters of hot springs, which have such healing power.

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Waimangu Lakes

About ten kilometers southeast of this kingdom of geysers in the crater of an extinct volcano are hidden the famous Waimangu Lakes – two reservoirs of blue and green colors. The coloration of water in them is explained by the different composition of rocks through which the springs that feed the lakes flow. The multicolored water is complemented here by brightly colored rocks of the crater, which iron oxides in some places gave a red hue, and sulfur deposits – yellow.

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Over the centuries, Waimanga has been adorned by the marvelous Pink and White Terraces, which cover an area of more than five hectares and surpassed even the world-famous Pamukkale Terraces in Turkey by the beauty of their openwork cascades of lime tuff deposited from hot springs.

The terraces were especially striking.

Travelers were especially struck by the White Terraces, which resembled a giant marble staircase covered with openwork carvings. Alas, in 1886, a catastrophic eruption of the nearby Tarawera volcano overnight destroyed this rare masterpiece, created by thermal springs for many thousands of years.

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Waimangu Geyser

However, the hot springs themselves were not permanently blocked by the volcano. In 1900, a colossal fountain of hot water, the likes of which had never before been seen in New Zealand, struck Waimangu. At the time, Waimangu Geyser was the most powerful geyser in the world and threw a powerful jet of water mixed with steam, rocks and sand to a height of four hundred and fifty meters!

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It raged and roared for hours, then fell silent, but thirty hours later it again threw out a fountain of boiling water. To calculate the time when the next water eruption, it was not easy, and a few curious gawkers paid with their lives for trying to study the hushed was a giant.

For four years, the giant geyser raged in the valley, stunning eyewitnesses with the fantastic size of its fountain. Then the Waimangu jet began to weaken, and in 1908 the geyser ceased to exist.

Karapiti’s Steam Cave

Another thermal area lies fifty kilometers south of Rotorua, near New Zealand’s largest lake, Lake Taupo. Here, in the Wairakei Valley, is the famous “steam cave” Karapiti, from which with enormous force bursts out clubs of steam, announcing the surrounding area with an intimidating roar. The world’s first geothermal power station was built here in 1958, using underground water to generate electricity.

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Lake Taupo itself is amazingly picturesque. The depth of this huge body of water, located in the heart of the Volcanic Plateau, reaches a hundred meters. To the south, a mighty volcanic massif rises above the lake, including three of the country’s four active volcanoes: Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe.

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Tourist Information

There is a fee to enter the reserve, which is about NZ$30. Tourists are offered several hiking trails of varying difficulty (from 40 minutes to 4 hours) and a boat ride on the lake.

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How to get there

Rotorua Airport receives flights from Auckland (40 minutes), Wellington (60 minutes), Christchurch (1 hour 15 minutes) and Queenstown (2.5 hours). It is also accessible by car – a 3 hour drive from Auckland.

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