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 told AFP.
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 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.