Caves served as a refuge for man at the dawn of civilization. Today, these underground voids attract brave cavers, seeking to penetrate as deep as possible to the heart of the Earth.
In today's top ten collected the largest caves in the world. Two of them are located on the territory of Abkhazia, which allows hundreds of Russian tourists to visit these natural monuments annually.
10. Cave Optimistic
Optimistic is the largest gypsum cave in the world. It is located in Ukraine in the Ternopil region. The cave is not fully explored, but the length of the corridors known to cavers is 230 km.
9. Oaks Bel Ha
The name of this system of underwater caves in translation from one of the Indian dialects means "three ways of water." The system is located in Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula, the total length of the corridors is 256 km.
8. Jewel Cave System
The cave system located in South Dakota has a total length of over 257 km. In the galleries of the cave strong drafts walk, gusts of which reach 15 m / s. The maximum depth of the cave is 192 meters.
7. Lamprechtsofen
This cave system is located in the Austrian land of Salzburg. Its length is 38 km, and the maximum depth is 1,632 meters. It is noteworthy that practical Austrians built a mini-power station in the cave, which produces energy from the course of the underground river.
6. Mammoth Cave
Located in Kentucky (USA), the karst cave is considered the longest in the world. The length of the investigated part of the transitions exceeds 587 km. The cave was discovered in 1797. Its maximum depth is 115 meters.
5. Snowy
One of the deepest caves in the world is located in Abkhazia. Its depth is 1,753 meters, and the length of all corridors, sometimes quite low, is more than 24 km. "Snow" is a system of three caves that are interconnected without siphons - underwater tunnels filled with water.
4. Shkotsyan caves
The cave system, located in the mountains of Slovenia, has a length of 6 km. The height of the arches reaches 50 meters. There are more than 30 underground waterfalls in the cave system, there is also a 15-meter stalagmite, nicknamed Giant.
3. Grotto Sarawak
The grotto on the island of Borneo is 400 meters wide, 700 meters long and up to 70 meters high. The grotto is part of the huge cave Gua-Nasib-Bagus. Only trained tourists are allowed on an excursion to Sarawak; a visit to the grotto lasts all day.
2. Krubera Cave
It is also called Raven Cave, and it is located in the Gagra Range in the territory of Abkhazia. The cave has two branches and is the deepest in the world. The depth of the first branch is 2 196 meters, the second - 1,300 meters.
1. Shondong Cave
The largest cave in the world located in Vietnam, 500 km from Hanoi. The height of the cave arches is up to 240 meters, the width is 100 meters, and the length of the passages and corridors has been studied so far only 6.5 km. Cavers discovered the grotto in 2005, although locals have known about Shondong since 1991.
