ShowCaveBlog

The Philippine government has released PHP 5 million (some €75,000, $100,000) for the development of the Sohoton Cave on Samar island, Eastern Visayas. The cave was already part of a National Park and guided, with a boat ride to the cave and a walk through the cave with men holding lamps. Now it will be improved with electric light and paths.
It seems the Phillipines learned what most first world countries already know: one reason for a show cave is the cave protection. If people are guided and must stay on a trail with handrail, they are not able to touch and destroy anything.

BusinessWorld Weekender: Samar to have country’s first ‘show cave’

We do not know why they wrote it was the first show cave of the country. Showcaves.com has liste numerous show caves. Probably it’s a matter of how one defines the term show cave.

There is news about a doline with a small cave located on Grand Cayman in the Caribbean Sea. The popular spot, once used for swimming, will be developed with a path and a folding stairway down into the sinkhole. A guide will be stationed at the cave to explain it to people and give them access, probably also to make sure nothing is destroyed. Because of the small size there will probably be no guided tours, visitors will visit the cave self guided.

The cave contains special animals, living in the fresh water which covers part of the floor ankle high. Those isopods willl probably be shown to the visitors through a stereoscope.

Cayman Islands – Cay Compass News Online – Blue Hole Cave will be exhibit

Kalabera Cave is a popular destination on Saipan island, which belongs to the Northern Mariana Islands. The semi-wild cave has now been closed to the public for the development as a show cave. This will include the construction of an elevated path and electric lighting. We do not list this cave at the moment, but will add a new show cave page with the next update.

 Saipan Tribune

Meghalaya Tourism, Meghalaya Tourism Development Corporation (MTDF) and Meghalaya Adventurers Association (MAA) are planning to create tourist cave visits in caves on the plateau with its enormous caves. The MAA is exploring caves for several years now, often in international teams, which allowed foreign cavers to see the caves and share their knowledge concerning caving and scientific research in caves including surveying. They also guided spelunking tours for tourists, but they are about the same difficulty level as normal caving trips and thus not suitable for normal tourists.
Plans to develop caves are several years old, but so far the area lacks all necessary infrastructure, including accommodation, roads, and of course cave development. It seams this will change soon, as the MTDF will invest in the infrastructure. The necessary steps in the development of a show cave will be the decision for one cave, the construction of a road to the cave plus electric power and the development of the cave of course. The necessary infrastructure is planned to be completed by 2010.
The need for a show cave is great, as it would draw tourist dollars into the rather remote and poor area. It could also be an alternative to the current limestone mining which creates huge environmental problems and is also a thread to the caves.

• Travel Biz Monitor :: Meghalaya Tourism seeks global expertise to start cave tourism

Oman’s ministry of tourism is working on the plan to make Majlis al Jinn the second show cave of the country. This cave is of some fame as it was featured two years ago in National Geographic Magazine. It is one of the largest cave chambers in the world, although it not the second largest as the ministry states. Concerning floor surface area it is the 8th largest with 58,000m².

This cave is simply a single huge chamber, with a partly collapse of the roof. Sun shines into the huge chamber, and cavers enter the cavern by climbing down the 150m from the rim to the floor below. Cavers do this by abseiling, and climb back up in a technique called single rope technique (SRT), where special devices are used to climb up the rope.
World’s second-largest cave to boost tourism – The National Newspaper

The Moravian Karst, the biggest and most important karst area in the Czech Republik has a new show cave. The Vypustek Cave was mined for fertilizer a hundred years ago, uised as an underground factory by the Nazis during World War II, later equipped with a Warsaw Pact secret bunker during the cold war. But during the 1990s the military abandoned the cave.

Vypustek is now in the management of local cavers, was developed as a show cave and is now open to the public for a few weeks. Beeing the 14th show cave of the Czech Republic, it is unique: it is the only cave with absolutely no stair, the only cave with an secret bunker. This is not a crystal cave, there are no stalactites and stalagmites. But it is of great historic importance.

This cave is of course listed by showcaves.com. We are proud we have listed it for some time, as we had the chance to visit it three years ago. We have taken pictures, which will be online soon.

Show Caves of the Czech Republic: Výpustek jeskyně

Nettle cave, a historic show cave at Jenolan, Australia, has be reopened on 18-DEC-2006 for self guided tours after having been closed for 74 years. The specialty of this new tour is a digital handset which provides information for the visitors. The amount of explanations is varable, so experts may hear detailed explanations while normal visitors may be content to hear the general explanations only. This renovation of pathways and electric light, plus the new tour digital guides has involved a $1.2 million investment.

Image: the artist at work: a Guanche drawing the exceptional geometric patterns. This is not the real cave but the model in the Museo Canario in Las Palmas.

The Cueva Pintada is not Altamira, it is just a small, mostly artificial cave in volcanic tufa, in which the indegnious inhabitants of Gran Canaria, the Guanche, painted enigmatic geometric patterns. Nevertheless they are breathtaking and absolutely unique. After the Spaniards conquered the islands, the native population was either killed or assimilated. The cultural remains were not valued, cave houses were used for goats. Later this cave was opened to the public. But fortunately it was then closed. Thats not really nice for tourists, but at least it protected the site.

Now, after 24 years, the painted cave is reopened. The whole area, with the excavation of a whole village, was restored and integrated into a museum. The cave is now also part of the museum. It is possible to see the cave through glass from the museum, but not to enter.

Inauguration of the museum was on Wednesday 26-JUL-2006.

Cueva Pintada

The Iran plans to construct a new cave museum, which will be located inside two caves, Huto and Kamarband Caves, which are about 100m apart. This two small caves are probably the most important archeologic caves in the Iran. There are three main reasons to choose this location: the importance of the location, the fact that it is already completely excavated, and the nice landscape around, with the sea to one side.

The reason for this museums seems to be the hope to draw tourists into the Iran. At the same time caves are explored for development or already developed. It seems all those tourist attractions are mainly for inland tourism, but foreign tourism would obviously be appreciated too.

Huto and Kamarband Cave

Cub Run Cave in Kentucky, U.S.A., is an old show cave. In the fifities the cave was already open to the public, but the land above the cave was owned by three different owners. What came were arguments, trials, and finally closure. It took 50 years, until the whole property was sold to a new owner, who will reopen the cave soon. It has been renovated, new trails and electric light built and so forth. showcaves.com has added a page which will be online soon.