ShowCaveBlog

New Zealand is famous for its nature: plants, animals, caves, mountains, and waterfalls. Many visitors use the hiking trails of New Zealand to see more than the normal tourist of this unique nature. In general people whi use the tracks have a positive intention towards nature protection, and so this works pretty well. But sometimes the system is abused.

Lately someone walking on the Kepler Track outside Te Anau vandalized Luxmore Cave, which lies at the trail. A 50cm long stalatite was snapped off the roof. It was an act of pure vandalizm, as the stalactite was then abandoned nearby, probably it was too heavy for the thief.

Police tried to identify the thief by lifting fingerprints from the speleothem, but the porous limestone structure did not preserve any prints. So if anyone walking on the trail on Sunday February 18th made any observation, plese report to the next police station.

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?

It seems the longest salt cave of the World has been discovered on Queshm island in Iran. Czech and Iranian speleologists discovered and explored lately the Cave of Three Nudes, which is over six kilometres long.

Czech speleologists reveal large salt cave in Iran – Prague Daily Monitor
Iranian-Czech team discovers world’s longest salt cave in Qeshm
World’s longest salt cave in Iran’s Qeshm