If we sit down to count the marvelous creations by God, humans would be the most prolific artifact originating from the supreme mind of the almighty. Why I say so is because designing every cell of our body to form a bigger organ and then coordination between each of them, the cycle of birth, growth and death, all come from the scientist sitting far away in the skies. And that’s not all, he is an architect of the most wonderful universe and the beauty that surrounds us in the form of sky,stars, the moon, high mountains, rivers, plants and so on. Amongst such amazing gifts of God are the deep dark and amazing caves, that have always fascinated the nature lovers with their unique splendor.
So let me take you to a virtual tour of the most beautiful and astounding caves of the world who have existed since the dawn of civilization.
Harrison’s Cave
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The Harrison’s cave are said to be one of the wonders of the world because of their magnificent beauty and amazingly formed unusual stalactites and stalagmites formations. Found in the Caribbean island Barbados, it’s the only cave in the world where running water is found along with color crystal-like formations. Formed by water erosion through the limestone rock, these caves are full of large chambers, lakes, streams and waterfalls. As you may see in the pictures, they are exquisite beyond imagination.
Phong Nha Cave
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Phong Nha Cave is the largest and most beautiful cave in Vietnam and is Unesco’s World Heritage site. The cave is 7729 m long, contains 14 grottos, with a 13,969 m-long Underground River filled with abundant stalactites and stalagmites. The river has widest and prettiest sand banks, containing many fascinating rock formations of the world.
Waitomo Glowworm Cave
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Located in North Island of New Zealand, the cave owes its name partially to the vast population of glowworms, botanically called the Arachnocampa luminosa that are exclusively found in New Zealand, so definitely worth a visit if you’re ever on holiday there. Around the size of an average mosquito, the hanging larvas of these glowworms emit the bright light to attract pray towards themselves. What is interesting is that the hungry larvas are said to glow brighter than the one with stomach filled. The thousand glowing larvas give a panorama of heavens at night. The blue light is actually a chemical reaction that takes place inside a special capsule in its tail.The limestone formations in the caves are said to be formed when the region was still under the ocean about 30 million years ago.
Cave of the Crystals
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This is the home of the world’s largest known crystals in Chihuahua, Mexico. It is a horseshoe-shaped cavity in limestone rock which is 10 meters wide and 30 meters long and contains giant selenite crystals even 36 ft long, 4 m in diameter and 55 tons in weight. The Naica mountain was filled with high temperature anhydrite gypsum during the volcanic activity that took place million of years ago. The magma heated the underground water dissolving all minerals and on cooling down formed huge selanite gypsum crystals over years.
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Ali Sadr Cave, Hamadan Iran
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Ali Sadr Cave is located about 100 kilometers north of Hamadan, western Iran and is one of the most beautiful caves on the world. The 70 million years old cave contains several large, deep lakes and the stalactites formations hanging from the roof of the cave in different colors doubles its beauty. Taking the shape of cauliflowers, needles and umbrellas, in vibrant colors of red, purple, brown, green and blue, these formations on the cave floor give an exotic view. It is said that Ali-Sadr is the only yachting cave with so clear water that we can see to a depth of 5 meters even in a dim light.
Eisriesenwelt Cave
Eisriesenwelt is a natural limestone ice cave located in Werfen, Austria. Located within the Tennengebirga Mountains near Salzburg, the cave stretches over to 42 kms and is the largest ice cave in the world.
Lechuguilla Cave
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The fifth longest cave in the world, Lechuguilla Cave is located in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico. It is most famous for its unusual geology like the rare speleothems, rare formations with large amounts of gypsum and lemon-yellow sulfur deposits, and pristine condition. However access to the cave is limited only to the approved scientific researchers, survey and exploration teams rather than holiday makers!
Crystal Cave
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Sequoia National Park, in the U.S. state of California is home of 240 known caves. Crystal Cave is a marble cave which is park’s second-longest at over 3.4 miles. It is in the Giant Forest region, between the Ash Mountain entrance of the park and Giant Forest. The cave is a constant 9 °C (48 °F), and only accessible by guided tour.
Yellow Dragon Cave
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The Yellow Dragon Cave is situated on the rear hill of Xixialing in West Lake tourist zone in Hangzhou City.it is actually a yard with half-artificial and half natural scenes. It is simple but very elegant with different kinds of bamboo like the white bamboo, purple bamboo, green bamboo with golden dots, square bamboo and so on.
Velebit caves of Croatia
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The Velebit Mountain is the home of a number of caves named Lukina jama, Slovacka jama, Velebita and Meduza. These caves have some of the world’s greatest subterranean spectacular vertical drops, sure to bring a shudder in the spine. At the foot of Lukina jama there are ponds and streams having the largest colonies of subterranean leeches.
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