January 30 - World's Tallest Geyser Discovered

Posted on January 30, 2022

Key points

This is an update of my post published on January 30, 2011:

Just in the nick of time, on this date in 1901, Dr. Humphrey Haines discovered the world’s tallest and most powerful geyser. Called Waimangu Geyser, it was located on the North Island of New Zealand. Every 36 hours, this geyser hurled up water, black mud, and rocks as high as 600 to 1,500 feet into the air. This is between 5 to 10 times the height of the world-famous Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone!

It’s higher than the Empire State Building!

Why did I say “just in the nick of time”? Well, this geyser went extinct in 1904 when a landslide changed the local water table.

People worldwide were interested in the find, and many tourists visited the geyser in the three years between discovery and extinction. Three of the tourists disregarded the repeated warnings of their guide to keep back at a safe distance, and unfortunately all four of them (even the guide) died in a sudden, violent eruption.

New Zealand is shown here in red. It’s east of Australia –
so it’s on the way-far-right side of this map.

The Youngest Country on Earth

New Zealand calls itself the youngest country on earth because it was the last major landmass to be discovered and settled by humans. About 1,000 years ago, Polynesian people arrived by canoes. By 1250 A.D. (or C.E.), during a period known as the Middle Ages in Europe, and almost a half century after the Magna Carta was signed in England, these Polynesians had made permanent settlements on New Zealand.

Just a few hundred years later, European explorers reached New Zealand.

Unfortunately, New Zealand is left off world maps surprisingly often!

Learn more about New Zealand and the Maori.

(The Maori are New Zealand’s indigenous people.)

Here is a book on Maori art. And here is a lesson on making Maori Koru art.

Koru art is inspired by the natural shapes
made by uncurling fern fronds.

Above, Sound of the Universe, by Sofia Minson
Below, A Bird on the Wall, by Sofia Minson
Can you see how the patterns and designs echo
the shape of uncurling fern fronds?

Sofia Minson is part Maori (Ngati Porou).

Here is a video advertising New Zealand as a great place to visit. And it is! I was in N.Z., enjoying the amazing scenery and the Maori art and even the geysers – but then the pandemic struck, and I had to scuttle back home. We missed the last four or five days of sightseeing! Hmmm…maybe I can go back?