Australian Tourist Attraction Welcomes Klingons

Image via Wikipedia

Are you a Klingon?  Do you know some Klingons?  Probably not, at least not real Klingons, but if you or someone you know is a fan of this Start Trek race, you will want to know about the Jenolan Caves National Park in Australia.  This park has decided to take you where no tourist has gone before by offering their cave tours in the Klingon language.  These caves are part of one of the oldest cave systems in the world and are host to 150,000 to 200,000 visitors annually.  Their audio tours were available in 8 earthly languages and they decided to add another, something fictional, just for fun.

David Hay director of Cultural Initiatives at Jenolan Caves says, “We considered adding dwarfish or elfish, but then decided to add the second most spoken fictional language in the world after Esperanto, which is Klingon.”

In the early 1990s, two “Star Trek: The Next Generation” writers visited the caves and subsequently used the name USS Jenolan for a transport vessel in the 1992 episode, “Relics.”
Later two Klingon scholars — Michael Roney Jr. and Tracy Canfield — visited the caves from the United States and translated the English audio tour of the caves into Klingon.  They  recorded the audio tour in a Sydney studio.

“What I think is happening is that people are very interested in the language and we have created a portal into it,” says Hay. “This is an opportunity for others to listen to Klingon and make it available for those who interested in it.”

The Klingon language was first developed in 1979 for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” by James Doohan.  Dohan played Scotty in the sci-fi series. The producers of Star Trek  consulted with linguist Mark Okrand to develop the language further for “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” and subsequent Star Trek films.  The “Klingon Dictionary” created by Okrand has sold hundreds of thousands of copies over the years to Klingon Language aficionados in 50 countries.

So, if you’re looking for a very different vacation, grab yourself a copy of the Klingon Dictionary, hop a plane to Australia and immerse yourself in an other-worldly experience in the Jenoian Caves.  Ka Plah!