Melissani Cave or Melissani Lake, also Melisani is a cave located on the island of Kefalonia, northwest of Sami, about 5 km SE of Agia Efthymia, NE of Argostoli and NW of Poros. The Ionian Sea lies to the east with the Strait of Ithaca. Forests surrounds the cave and the mountain slope is to the west. Near the cave is the entry to the cave with parking lots and is passed almost in the middle of the main road linking Sami and Agia Efimia especially to the northern part of the island. In Greek mythology, Melissani was the cave of the nymphs. The cave features a lake that are surrounded with trees and forests. The cave is located east of the mountains of Evmorfia and Agia Dynati. Tourism is common in the cave. The cave features a sky-blue lake covered with stones at the bottom. Plants are at the door of the cave. The color of the rocks which are stucco to honey-like brown is at the door of the cave. The lake is also inside the cave. The cave was rediscovered in 1951 by Giannis Petrocheilos.
Hamilton Pool Preserve is a natural pool that was created when the dome of an underground river collapsed due to massive erosion thousands of years ago. The pool is located about 23 miles west of Austin, Texas off Highway 71. Since the 1960s, Hamilton Pool has been a popular summer swimming spot for Austin visitors and residents. Hamilton Pool Preserve consists of 232 acres of protected natural habitat featuring a jade green pool into which a 50-foot waterfall flows. The pool is surrounded by large slabs of limestone that rest by the water's edge; large stalactites grow from the ceiling high above. The ceiling and surrounding cliffs of the grotto are home to moss, maidenhair fern and cliff swallows. The Ashe juniper (cedar) uplands of the preserve are home to the endangered golden-cheeked warbler. The natural pool and creek are not chemically treated, so water quality is monitored regularly and swimming is occasionally restricted. Hamilton Pool is part of the Balcones Cayonlands Preserve and is a protected environment.
If you’ve had the opportunity to visit one of Ra Paulette’s art caves in the Embudo area, the word “transcendent” might occur to you when describing the experience. “I call it the cave effect,” Paulette said. “There are some perceptual and psychological things that are in play, as far as a medium goes, that are advantages in this work.” And work it is. The process of creating his underground cathedrals is intensely physical, as viewers of CaveDigger will see. The new documentary film screens at the Center for Contemporary Art on Tuesday and Sunday, July 9 and 14. Even though his medium is relatively soft sandstone, it is rock, and the cave sites are remote. You get an inkling of the effort involved when you observe Paulette trudging, climbing over the landscape on his way to his current cave project, a wheelbarrow and tools strapped to his back. Then there’s all the digging and carving, creating arches and walls, shoveling all the loose stuff into the barrow, and hauling it outside the cave entrance.
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The Waitomo Glowworm Caves attraction is a cave at Waitomo on the North Island of New Zealand, known for its population of glowworms, Arachnocampa luminosa. This species is found exclusively in New Zealand. They are around the size of an average mosquito. This cave is part of the Waitomo Caves system that includes the Ruakuri Cave and the Aranui Cave. The attraction has a modern visitor centre at the entrance, largely designed in wood. There are organized tours that include a boat ride under the glowworms. The most renowned animal in the cave is the glowworm Arachnocampa luminosa. There are several small underwater lakes that were created by freshwater creeks or brooks.
The walls of the caves are covered with a variety of fungi including the cave flower (a distant relation to the genus Pleurotus) that is actually a mushroom-like fungus. The most common animals in the caves are insects. This includes albino cave ants, giant crickets, and of course the glowworms.
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Krubera Cave is the deepest known cave on Earth. It is located in the Arabika Massif of the Gagrinsky Range of the Western Caucasus, in the Gagra district of Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia. The difference in the altitude of the cave's entrance and its deepest explored point is 2,197 ± 20 metres. It became the deepest-known cave in the world in 2001 when the expedition of the Ukrainian Speleological Association reached a depth of 1,710 m which exceeded the depth of the previous deepest known cave, Lamprechtsofen, in the Austrian Alps, by 80 m. In 2004, for the first time in the history of speleology, the Ukrainian Speleological Association expedition reached a depth greater than 2,000 m, and explored the cave to −2,080 m. Ukrainian diver Gennadiy Samokhin extended the cave by diving in the terminal sump to 46 m depth in 2007 and then to 52 m in 2012, setting successive world records of 2,191 m and 2,197 m respectively. Krubera remains the only known cave on Earth deeper than 2,000 metres.
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Zlot Caves is the collective term for two caves, Lazar's Cave and Vernjikica, located in the town of Zlot, in the Bor municipality in eastern Serbia. There are 22 km from the caves to Bor and 240 km to Belgrade. The Lazar's Cave is 1.592 m long (the tourist paths 694.5 m) and the Vernjikica 1,015 m (tourist paths 620.50 m). The air temperature in Lazar's Cave ranges between 9 C – 12 C and relative air humidity is 100%; in the Vernjikica cave, the air temperature ranges between 3 C and 9 C and the air humidity is 100%. The Zlot Caves have a permanent guide service. Tours of Lazareva cave last 30-40 minutes and of Vernjikica 3 hours. Visiting hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (from April 1 to October 31), and in winter period by appointment.
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Jenolan Caves are caves in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia; 175 kilometres west of Sydney. They are the most visited of several similar groups in the limestone of the country, and the oldest discovered open caves in the world. They include numerous Silurian marine fossils and the calcite formations, sometimes pure white, are noted for their beauty. The cave network is very large, with over 40 km of multi-level passages, and the complex is still undergoing active exploration. The caves are a popular tourist destination, with several kilometres of the caves rendered accessible to paying visitors and well lit.
Located 3 hours drive from Sydney and Canberra, Jenolan Caves attracts over 250,000 visitors a year, making it one of the most popular tourist locations in rural New South Wales. Since 2008, Jenolan Caves has won many tourism awards, including 4 gold awards in the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards (2011 and 2013). There is no public transport to Jenolan Caves. However, there are large carparks and a range of coach operators bring tourists from Sydney and Katoomba every day. Ten of the area's "dark caves" are open for regular guided tours every day (1 to 2 hours per tour). These 'show' cave tour sizes vary. For example, the delicate Pool of Cerberus Cave can have only 8 on a tour, while the Lucas Cave (with its large chambers) can have up to 65 people per tour. Tours also vary in difficulty, for example the Imperial Cave has the fewest stairs, while the River Cave is the most strenuous. However, the average tourist can tour any of these 'show' caves.
Source: chasingthewild.com/2013/09/2201/
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