Cave with Ice Age fossils opening in Indiana

A cave littered with the bones of Ice Age creatures will open for the first time to the public on Saturday.

As with many so-called "show caves," Indiana Caverns has the requisite geological formations and a river for subterranean boat rides. But the pre-historic bones — believed to be among the largest cache discovered in one cave — are the "frosting on the cake," says marketing manager Carol Groves.

Located in southern Indiana about 25 miles west of Louisville, the new attraction is part of the 36-mile-long cave Binkley cave system (the nation's 11th longest). Portions have been explored for more than half a century, but the section opening Saturday was only discovered three years ago by a group of caving enthusiasts.

Hidden River Cave adding zipline, rappelling

Visitors to Hidden River Cave in south-central Kentucky will soon have opportunities for new zipline and rappelling adventures.

The new offerings will begin this coming Saturday.

Adventure seekers will be able to zip over the top of the cave entrance or rappel down the rock face entrance to Hidden River Cave.

Cave tours will still be offered, and all packages include admission to the American Cave Museum.

Also new is a gem mining sluice that allows visitors to pan for their own gemstone.

Hidden River Cave and the American Cave Museum are operated by the American Cave Conservation Association, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of caves nationwide.

The two Kentucky attractions are located 2.2 miles off Interstate 65 at Exit 58 at Horse Cave.

Source: WLKY

"Christmas in the Cave" ready with 20,000 lights

Friday is the start of "Christmas in the Cave" at Cherokee Caverns. You can spend the evening getting in the Holiday spirit and learn some geology.

Volunteers at Cherokee Caverns near Oak Ridge have spent the last month hanging more than 20,000 Christmas lights and decorations inside the cave.

Families can walk the mile loop inside the cave which stays a balmy 58 degrees year round.

Also, families can take a picture with Santa and, of course, learn about mother nature.

The Director of Cherokee Caverns, Jim Whidby, says, "They can enjoy a wide variety of cave formation, stalagmites, stalactites, androdites. I encourage folks to come out and enjoy the beauty of the cave. It is the most historical cave in Knox County.The only one of 171 caves that was open to the public."

"Christmas in the Cave" runs Friday and Saturday night from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and next Thursday through Sunday. Tickets are $8.

Source: WBIR

Wind Cave visitation up 11%

Rangers at Wind Cave National Park have seen an 11% increase in cave tour visitation over last year. More than 32,000 people have toured the cave so far this year.

"The warm spring weather definitely helped our visitation, and it just hasn't slowed down since," said park superintendent Vidal Davila. "We're ahead of our 2010 numbers, when visitors to Wind Cave spent $17.6 million in the park and surrounding communities and supported more than 300 area jobs."

Visitors to the country's eighth national park have over thirty daily tours to choose from, with the first tour entering the cave at 8:40 a.m. and the last tour starting from the visitor center at 6 p.m. Five different regularly schedules tours are offered each day during the summer.

"With cave temperatures in the Black Hills in the upper 40s and lower 50s degrees, a trip into one of the area's caves is an excellent way to cool off this summer," Davila said.

For more information about tours at Wind Cave National Park, call the park at 605-745-4600 or visit: www.nps.gov/wica.

Source: Kota News

Waulpane cave area to become tourist zone

The Sabaragamuwa Provincial Roads and Tourism Ministry is taking steps to declare the Waulpane cave area in the Kolonna electorate as a tourist zone. Development work in the surrounding area of the lime cave has commenced after an inspection by Provincial Minister Athula Kumara Rahubadda.

A fence will be erected at a cost of Rs. 240,000. Rs. 319,779 has been allocated to provide health facilities. A children's park will also be set up at a cost of Rs. 178,033.

Source: Daily News

Groupon Offer: Grotte de la Merveilleuse

Belgian show cave "Grote de la Merveilleuse" (Cave of Wonders, Dinant) is giving a 50% reduction for a 2 person pass through Groupon.

Click here to see the offer in detail or check out the cave at their official site.

Investors from Slovenia interested in Lipska cave

Investors from Slovenia are interested in valorisation of the Lipska cave in Cetinje, though adequate investments and marketing activities, which would significantly contribute to diversification of tourism in the municipality.

According to the model of valorisation of the Lipska cave for tourism purposes that was proposed to the Government, the valorisation of that location would contribute to the development of a new product, which is in great demand in the tourism market.

Source: Balkans

Lewis & Clark Caverns celebrating National Trails Day

Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park is planning a day of activities for National Trails Day, June 2. The public is invited to contribute to trail work, enjoy music and food or take a tour of the Park’s trail system.

Events begin at 9 a.m. in the Main Visitor Center with a program on trail use and weed control. Mid-day events include lunch and music by the Tumbleweed Connection. The final event of the day will be a 2 p.m. tour of the trails.

No registration is needed.

Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park is located along Montana Highway 2, 15 miles east of Whitehall. For more information, call 406-287-3541 or email [email protected].

Man Trapped In Cave Shares His Story

He's home after nearly an entire day trapped in one of the Maquoketa Caves over the weekend. Emma Thompson and Logan Eliasen were rescued from hundreds of feet underground.

The two 20-year-olds from Port Byron have been in the caves before. With the attractions back open this year, their group of friends joined the many flocking there to do some exploring. But Eliasen, a biblical studies and theology student, never expected the return to end up this way.

"I was slipping further and further down as I was trying to dislodge myself from the rock. And I ended up all the way on my side stuck in a crevice," said Eliasen.

After watching his friend stuck in the same tunnel for nearly four hours, Eliasen, while trying to following Thompson and rescuers out of the cave found himself in the same, scary situation. "I was really frightened and breathing really quickly."

Rescue crews already on scene worked to get him free. Minutes turned to hours in the cold, cramped space. "For a couple hours I was starting to get a little bit delusional. I was so thirsty and tired and cold," said Eliasen. Responders brought food, water, warm clothing and, most importantly, air down 300 feet into the cave.

Mammoth Cave guides become tour experts

It's 1:30 p.m. and Dominic Papia makes an announcement from the visitor center at Mammoth Cave National Park urging those who are planning to take the 1:45 p.m. nature walk to meet behind the visitor center.

Papia and his fellow tour guides are expected to know a wealth of information about the national park from biology to geology, and even history, which can be rather daunting their first few weeks on the job.

"It's very overwhelming at first," he said.

Tour guides are given a general outline in which to follow while leading tours, but after gaining some experience they are allowed to interject points of information from research they may have done.

"So, you kind of do it step-by-step, even though it seems like something you would have to learn all at once," Papia said.

"You can focus on the things that you are interested in the most and then start picking up on other things," said Ana Casilla, who is also a tour guide.

Papia and Casilla have been tour guides at Mammoth Cave for about a year and both admit to having carried cheat sheets with them while leading tours.

Ohio cave system to open new areas

The Palace of the Gods is one of several rooms
or levels that cave explorers will find during
a tour of Ohio Caverns near Bellefontaine.

Sections of a cave system that haven't before been open to the public will be available for tours in a couple of weeks in west central Ohio just in time for the summer season.
Visitors to Ohio Caverns in West Liberty still will be able to take the tour that has been offered since 1925 at the caverns known for their array of colors and abundant stalactites and stalagmites. But beginning Memorial Day weekend, they also can choose a tour providing more historical information about the cave and a shorter one with access for the disabled -- rare in caves because of the often rough terrain. The sections formerly closed off by debris and mud will make the existing tour and the historical one each about a mile long, increasing the amount of surveyed passageways to 3 1/2 miles.

Workers started clearing the thick clay-like mud in the formerly closed sections in 2007.

"You could crawl through the areas, but you couldn't walk in them," Ohio Caverns owner Eric Evans said.

The caverns running underneath a 35-acre park in Logan and Champaign counties were formed thousands of years ago when an underground river cut through limestone, forming large rooms and passageways. Mineral deposits created highly decorative cave walls stained with red, orange, blue, purple and yellow in addition to the more traditional brown, black and white.

The caverns were discovered in 1897 by a farm hand when a 30-foot deep sinkhole opened up after heavy rain, Evans said. Visitors were drawn to the thousands of stalactites, stalagmites and other formations and took lantern-lit, self-guided tours in the early 20th century.

The 45-minute formal tour offered for almost 90 years takes visitors past formations such as the Crystal King, a 400-pound white stalactite almost five feet long and more than 200,000 years old, and the Palace, featuring translucent crystals. Other rare formations such as helictites, which resemble straws, hang from the ceiling in unusual twisted shapes. Rare dual formations feature reddish iron oxide on top of pure white calcium carbonate, with the colors never blending.

The caverns are open all year and typically draw about 60,000 visitors annually, said Evans, who hopes the additions will boost attendance by another 20,000, at least the first year.

Source: Coshocton Tribune

Timpanogos Cave opens Saturday and turns to social media to manage tours

After undergoing major improvements in the off-season, Timpanogos Cave National Monument is ready to welcome visitors. It is also turning to social media to help manage tours of the popular attraction.

Timpanogos Cave is known for its helictites, its color formations and its three passages. Each year thousands of people hike the 1.5-mile trail to see it. That's one of the reasons the cave now will use social media.

"Here in Utah, we're one of the most wired communities in the nation," superintendent Jim Ireland said. "Right here on the Wasatch Front everybody uses social media. It's very popular and it's only natural that we use it to communicate."

Last year Timpanogos Cave had an influx of visitors on the weekends and holidays, causing congestion in American Fork Canyon. Visitors can connect to the park with Twitter at TimpCaveNPS and receive updates on ticket availability, weather and other timely information. Facebook friends can learn more about planning their visit, park resources and monument events at facebook.com/timpanogoscavenps. Visitors can also visit www.nps.gov/tica for updates or contact the park at 801-756-5238 for advanced ticket sales.

"We're going to try real hard to get real-time information out, and social media is the way to do that," Ireland said.

Corydon cave jumps in size and national rank with passageway discovery

Nick Benton, lower left, and Indiana Speleological Survey
Vice President Rand Heazlitt explore the Davidson cave
passage in Harrison County last month.

For decades, explorers crawling through the vast limestone caverns beneath Corydon, Ind., hit dead ends when trying to connect two well-known caves.

But earlier this year, they had a breakthrough — finding a passageway linking Binkley Cave and Blowing Hole Cave, a spectacular uncharted section with tall cathedral-like caverns and an array of limestone formations.

The cool factor multiplied when the cavers with the Indiana Speleological Survey realized that by adding the seven-mile Blowing Hole Cave to Binkley, they'd unearthed a combined cavern that is now the 11th longest nationally, at nearly 35 miles.

That's big in caving circles, said Arthur Palmer, a retired hydrology professor at the State University of New York who explored Binkley in the 1960s with an Indiana University team.

"People all over are interested in what's happening at Binkley," Palmer said, because "it's kind of rare for a cave to undergo a big (growth) spurt like this, especially when it's been explored for so many years."

There are far bigger caves. Mammoth Cave near Cave City, Ky., is the world's longest at 390 miles, with Jewel Cave in Custer County, S.D., second at 157 miles. But Binkley's growth "goes beyond exciting to incredible," said Julian "Jerry" Lewis, a biologist from Borden, Ind., who has worked inside the cave on groundwater and wildlife studies.

"They keep finding more and more and more" territory, Lewis said. "The potential for it to become more immense is growing by the day."

Fla. man dies while touring Mammoth Cave

A Florida man has died while on a cave tour at Mammoth Cave National Park in southern Kentucky.

Park spokeswoman Vickie Carson says 67-year-old William Larry Martin of Bronson, Fla., became ill in the River Hall portion of the cave, about a mile-and-a-half into the tour.

Carson told that Martin, who was touring the cave with his family, had to be carried out on a stretcher.

Edmonson County Coroner Michael Alexander pronounced Martin dead at 1:18 p.m. CDT.

Carson said no one has died on a cave tour since the 1980s.

Source: Miami Herald

Bau's Wind Cave Nature Reserve Partially Open To Visitors From May 14

The Wind Cave Nature Reserve in Bau, Malaysia, which had been closed for maintenance work since last year, will be partially opened to visitors effective May 14.

The walkways of Passage One, Two and Three are now open with basic amenities such as toilets, shelters and platforms for visitors visiting the 6.16-hectare reserve, the Sarawak Forestry Corporation said in a statement here today.

The Wind Cave Nature Reserve imposes a RM1 entrance fee for local visitors and RM5 for foreigners, in accordance with the National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998.

The reserve is part of the Bau Formation, a narrow belt of limestone covering about 150 sq km of southwest Sarawak.

"Due to the comparatively soft and soluble nature of limestone, and the intense tropical rainfall of the region, the whole of the Bau Formation is intersected with caves," said the statement, adding that the Wind Cave was within easy reach of Kuching and is a popular day trip and picnic destination even though many caves of the Bau Formation were remote and inaccessible.

Source: Bernama

Search on for central Queensland cave fossils

A Queensland Museum curator will start sifting through thousands of animal bones to try to find new fossils at the Capricorn Caves, near Rockhampton in the state's central region.

Dr Scott Hocknull and his team have excavated more animal fragments from the site during the past few weeks.

Dr Hocknull is studying how species became extinct in Rockhampton, hundreds of thousands of years ago.

He says it will take time to work out what happened.

"We're yet to figure out the results of it, obviously we've only got the fossils back into the laboratories so it'll be a few months from now on, or maybe even a year or two, to really figure it out," he said.

"We're talking about literally thousands of little, tiny bones.

"It's not something we can go, 'oh yes, we know the answer to'.

"We have to sort through literally thousands and thousands of small bones and teeth.

Source: ABC

Students work as cave guides

Celia Baker, a junior biology and chemistry double major
from Louisville, is a park ranger at Mammoth Cave National Park.

Over 150 years ago, the limestone hollows and intricate mazes routed by gypsum-encrusted hallways housed a tuberculosis hospital. Louisville native John Croghan believed that the vapors from the cave would cure patients of the epidemic.

This is just one interesting fact that Louisville junior Celia Baker said she’s learned since working at Mammoth Cave National Park, the longest cave system known in the world.

Baker took a position as a tour guide last summer after she noticed a flier in Snell Hall. Ironically, she’d never been to Mammoth Cave before she started college.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but it’s awesome,” she said. “I know a ton of stuff about the cave now.”

During the two-week training program, Baker learned different aspects about giving tours, from CPR First Aid to interesting places to stop during tours.

Each guide is required to design their own route.

Baker said the tours aren’t made up for them. Each guide plans a tour and presents it to be approved.

DeSoto Caverns Park makes top 10 list

DeSoto Caverns Park has been recognized in a “Top 10 Things for Families to Do in Alabama” list.

Trekaroo.com included DeSoto Caverns, along with Cathedral and Sequoyah caverns, at number two on its list of “Discover Alabama’s Caves.” Trekaroo.com reviews kid-friendly activities and travel trips for families.

DeSoto Caverns Park is the site of the historic DeSoto Caverns just east of Childersburg on Alabama 76. The caverns have been a tourist attraction since the 1960s and over the past 25 years has added a growing family oriented theme park.

According to The Historical Marker Database, DeSoto Caverns is the first recorded cave in the United States, and served as a shelter for Native Americans for centuries. The caverns served as a Confederate gunpowder mining site during the War Between the States.

Tours of the caverns feature a 12-story high main cave that is larger than a football field, and has some of the most concentrated accumulations of onyx-marble stalagmites and stalactites in America.

Groups of 20 or more can reserve the cavern for overnight stays. Scouts can earn “Adventure” badges and primitive camping is available.

Schools can take advantage of the historical significance and geological features by scheduling school field trips. A variety of packages are offered, including admission to the fun-theme park.

Families can tour the caverns and also enjoy 25 “wacky” attractions that include a Lost Trail maze, Panning for Gemstones, Wacky Water Golf, and many other attractions.

"We are glad to have an attraction that is family oriented, and we are glad to be recognized as one of the top family attractions in Alabama through this list on Trekaroo.com, as well as on Oprah Winfrey's list of Wacky Family Attractions," park president Tim Lacy said.

Source: The Daily Home

Philippine ecotourism looks bright

Puerto Princesa Underground River

The future of Philippine ecotourism looks bright in part because of a tourist experience that may be likened to going back in time, President Benigno Aquino III said on Saturday night.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature, Mr. Aquino said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Tourism (DOT) are working together to promote other ecotourism sites.

“Not long ago, I had the chance to explore the Puerto Princesa Underground River myself. It was an amazing experience. Journeying down a river that winds through a subterranean cave system is like traveling back in time,” he said in a speech at the Esplanade in Pasay City.

Open invitation
“With walls and caverns that have been shaped by the elements and extraordinary formations of stalactites and stalagmites, the underground river is a true example of the artistry of nature, when it is preserved and cared for by man,” he added.

Mr. Aquino said more than 235,000 tourists in 2011 saw the beauty and majesty of the underground river.

“Words alone cannot do justice to the underground river—one must experience it firsthand to be able to understand exactly why it is one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. So consider this as an open invitation to everyone to visit the PPUR,” he said.

Four couples will tie the know in May in Yagodina Cave

Four couples will tie the know in May in Yagodina Cave, which is located in Rhodope Mountains in Southern Bulgaria, cave curator Sergey Genchev told FOCUS - Smolyan Radio.

A wedding ceremony will take place also on 29 April. According to Genchev the couples prefer to get married in the cave in order to feel a stronger thrill.

The curator also added that the number of tourists visiting Yagodina Cave and Devil’s Throat Cave increased as the weather got warmer.

Source: Daniela Boykova