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A Cave spirit, volcanic fumes, melting ice walls, hissing noxious gases, groaning ice and the slow drip of time all feature in this powerful immersion underground as wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson recalls his experiences in two very different cave systems; the limestone caves of Waitomo, New Zealand, and the Kverkfj枚ll ice caves in Iceland, in the second of five illustrated talks by different writers on the theme of THE CAVE
The Waitomo Caves are a large cave system on the North island of New Zealand. The word 'Waitomo' is a Maori word, 'wai' means water and 'tomo' means hole or shaft. Geological and volcanic activity have created around 300 limestone caves in this region over the last 30 million years. Illustrated with recordings he made on location, Chris describes first his encounter with the voice of the spirit of the cave; an invisible force which he could neither see nor locate. Elsewhere, Chris records the intimate sounds of different cave spaces; the Cathedral, the Flowstone and the Dome. All around him, there's the slow drip of water as it percolates through the limestone creating stalactites and stalagmites; the slow dripping of water marking the passage of time. In contrast to the slow formation of these limestone caves, on the far side of the equator in Iceland, Chris visits the Kverkfj枚ll ice caves, which are in state of constant flux. They are formed by hot water from a volcanic spring below the Vatnaj枚kull glacier. This is truly unpredictable, hostile environment; the deep roar of the volcano and the hissing of noxious gases fills the air inside the cave, along with the terrifying creaks and groans of ice as walls melt and shift in these caves of perpetual transition.
Presenter and wildlife sound recordist: Chris Watson
Producer: Sarah Blunt.