Australian cave tours available in Klingon

An Australian cave system is offering tours in Klingon, the alien language featured in cult science fiction series Star Trek, in what is believed to be a world first.

Jenolan Caves west of Sydney, the inspiration for Star Trek spacecraft the USS Jenolan, will offer audio guides in the fictional language from August 22, catering for the show’s fans who flock to the attraction.

“We get a lot of Trekkies,” spokesman David Hay said.

American Klingon scholars Michael Roney Jr and Tracy Canfield visited Sydney this month to translate and record the tour, which guide Gordon Mills described as being written for a Klingon visitor to earth.

“It’s delivered for a Klingon ambassador visiting earth, translating for him what humans like,” said Mr Mills.

“Fantasy has always been a part of Jenolan,” he added. “It seemed like a fresh idea and fun!”

Klingon, which includes phrases such as “nuqneH” (hello) and “Hab SoSlI’ Quch” (your mother has a smooth forehead) will be one of 11 languages in which audio guides are offered to tourists at Jenolan.

One of the world’s oldest limestone cave systems, Jenolan is visited by 150,000-200,000 tourists each year.