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Hello, I am interested in doing a 2 day voyage through this cave. Spelunking is one of my many strange hobbies, and I have been on a few spelunking expeditions in the Northern Rocky Mountains. From what I am reading, this adventure is pretty straight forward, but I am also reading that native Hawaiians laid their dead to rest in the caves, and the tubes connecting with it.
How do the natives feel about tourists in the caves? I guess any haole would be a tourist regardless of if they live in Hawaii or not? Is there any way to show respect, while at the same time wandering through these endless passages? I have been to a few sites like this on the Mainland, and what we do here is some smudging, and a quick moment of silence.
Also, do people occupy these caves? I have heard that one of the main entrances to this cave system was designated as a fallout shelter in 1966. Does anyone know which entrance this was? I don't want to be trampling through someone's living space or anything.
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My understanding is all the entrances to the cave are on private property and you have to get permission from them. I think I remember a member of Punaweb offered me entrance and a tour, but that was years ago. Maybe someone with more knowledge will chime in. I know there is at least one "commercial" tour from a land owner;
https://kazumuracave.com/
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We did the 4 hour tour through the link provided above by HI_Someday.
Here's an old thread that is filled with LOTS of info and some replies from one of our long time respected members, Opihikao
https://punaweb.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=7527&highlight=kazamura
I believe it was "Harry" that took us and is referenced in the thread.
Highly recommend this link provided by Bystander before you go:
http://www.caves.org/pub/journal/PDF/V59...Allred.pdf
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We have a caving club on Big Island called The Grotto.
Hawaii Grotto
c/o John M. Wilson
PO Box 377650
Ocean View, HI 96737
(808) 929-8256
jmwgeo@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/groups/348624448643257
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MM there are a lot of online resources to search on the Kazumura Cave system including the National Park Service, USGS & even NSS (if you are thinking of "ridgewalkiing" here, it is far different than most areas you may have been, as the karst geomorphology here is punctuated by shelly pahoehoe & viscous a`a.)
Here are a few links:
http://www.speleogenesis.info/directory/...hp?id=2725
http://www.ackma.org/journal/47/Some%20L...dleton.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication...ave_Hawaii
& one to help you understand the importance of this ecosystem in species development here:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3677470/
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Does anybody have a good map of the cave system?
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Terracore,
www.caves.org probably has the most complete information & I have linked most of the referenced info above.
Here is a 2003 article on sewage testing that has a rudimentary map:
https://caves.org/pub/journal/PDF/V65/v6...lliday.pdf
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Anyone been in the lava tube in MacKenzie Park? How about the one just off the road before the Kalapana transfer station?
Ed
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Yes, years ago I spelunked the MacKenzie Park lava tube. It goes under the road & comes out Mauka where there is an old Civil Defense Fallout shelter sign & a staircase.
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09-27-2020, 04:33 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-27-2020, 06:16 AM by MikeyMike11.)
So I am in the final stage of closing on a deal of one of the main entrances to Kazumura. I was going to buy a home in HPP, and just live there, but we are more interested in the possibility of opening up the cave to the public, and getting serious about exploring this cave. I don't want to jinx this deal, so I will stop there.
But I will do my best to document what I find down there. It is mapped mostly from end to end, but there are "countless" side chambers and tubes connecting to this main cave like a river system. The map linked to above is to Kaumana Cave not Kazumura. Kazumura is far far bigger. It will take decades to fully map. I hope one day we can plug these sewage pipes, as they are illegal. They are mostly in HPP, and there are only 2 documented ones spelunkers have found so far. But unfortunately, there is a dump down there, and the exit hole in HPP is mainly blocked, so it will take some work to clean it al out. Or maybe make a museum out of it: One entrance starts at "Progress of Man", the other will end at "Downfall of Man" at the cesspits.
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/DE...489d872deb
