ShowCaveBlog

Between Friday 17-FEB-2006 16:00 and Saturday morning, 18-FEB-2006 9:00 one of the most famous show caves of Western Australia, Crystal Cave at Yanchep National Park has been vandalized. The vandals broke a gated roof opening to enter the cave. Then they destroyed about a dozen stalagmites, among them the most famous formation called Elephants Foot.

The fact that only the most important formations had been destroyed, and that the 4m drop from the roof and the firm gate required appropriate equippment, time and effort, suggests that the destructions were well planned. However, so far no motive is known.
Vandals damage ancient cave

The longest cave of the world is Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. It is more than 590km long and it will stay the longest cave. But the second and third are both still explored and both are around 215km long. So now and then they swap their rank. One is  Jewel Cave in the Black Hills in South Dakota, the other is Optimisticeskaja, a gypsum cave in the Ukrajina.

In a four day expedition, American cavers explored and mapped almost another kilometer in Jewel Cave, and so this is the second longest cave of the world. We will see, how long it takes until the Ukrainian Cavers bring the next update….

Both  Jewel Cave and  Mammoth Cave are show caves. And although this race for the second rank is rather funny, we guess it is not relevant to the cave visitors. We guess they do not intend to do 215 kilometers of cave.

Cerkniško jezero (Lake Cerknica) is probably the most famous intermittend lake of the world, as it changes its level in a yearly rhythm, depending on the karst ground water level. It was described hundreds of years ago, because of its strange behaviour.

The International Convention on Wetlands was signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971. 150 contracting parties commited themselves to the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. 1590 wetland sites are listed in the Ramsar List, with a total area of 134 million hectares. All those sites are wetlands of international importance.

This site tells more about the inclusion of Cerknizka site. I personally enjoyed the great pictures.

Slovenia names intermittent karst lake for third Ramsar site

This has nothing to do with show caves, it is almost the opposite: a place which is protected from visitors. Nevertheless I think it is a good idea and worth a post. Each society has mechanisms how it works, and the easiest way to protect what you like is by following and using those mechanisms. In the USA it is money. And so it is logical, to protect natural resource by simply buying them.

The Nature Conservancy has now purchased Bellamy Cave. This cave is home to numerous cave animals, both troglobionts and troglophiles. There are the blind crayfish and the rare Coleman Cave Beetle. However, the reason why they bought it are bats, 125,000 bats hibernating in the cave every year, especially Indiana bats and grey bats. And it is an important nursery. The result is obvious: the cave was used for saltpeter mining some centuries ago…

I do not really understand what the fuss with bats is. As a caver I see them often, and as a nature lover I am happy if they are protected. But as an speleologist I guess that all the other life forms in and around a cave are probably much more interesting and important. But if it helps to raise funds by telling vampire stories, why not?

Waitomo Glowworm Caves have been vandalized on Wednesday 28-DEC-2005 by unknowns. Vandals slipped through security during the night and splashed white acrylic paint on the limestone formations leaving obscene messages. Two weeks before a fire destroyed the main tourist centre at Waitomo. Police says, there was no indication that the vandalism is related to the fire. It seems, the attack is not directed at any particular person or organisation, there is no clear motive for it.

About 50 volunteers cleaned the cave on Thursday night, and the cave was reopened after only one day. A thousand visitors were turned away from the cave on Thursday. But although the cave is reopened, a lot of paint remains and the damages to the formations are serious.

Radio New Zealand – Waitomo Glowworm Caves re-open after vandal attack
New Zealand news on Stuff.co.nz: Paint vandals puzzle heart-broken cave staff