Exploration Underground

Exploration underground

Caving has never been my main choice for an outdoor activity but I had a passion for exploring the hidden beauty of the world and appreciate or embrace its miraculous formations such as these caves.

On our first day of Days of privilege, where we have given this chance to experience this marvelous places for free. We are lucky then that one of our ocular visits is a visit to PANGIHAN CAVE in Malay, Aklan. 

After our travel from Kalibo early in the morning in October 25th 2016 we begun doing the ocular. We visit one after the other in a limited time. and after visiting places our next destination is the PANGIHAN CAVE.

I was very very excited as much as my group's excitement to get to the cave. We have two tour guides who cheerfully assisted us to the cave.

Here in Pangihan cave I could have sworn a chamber resembles a tyrannosaurus vex's jaws with the stalactites forming as its teeth, ready to bite an unbeknownst lurker within the cave.

There are some chambers for fruit bats where I can see them on the cave's ceiling and make me "ahs" and "ohs" but unfortunately its odor can be very stinky to one's nose, I would not want to stay at that chamber for a long time because of its so strong smell.  With the fruit bats shrieking sounds it enables me to think of the place as batman's abode. that is If you are watching Batman movies you can be pretty much relate to this.

Pangihan cave has not only stalactites and stalagmites  abundant in helictites and straws as well. The cave also has a unique formations like dog tooth curtains, drip stones cave curtains as fossil imprints or marine life on its walls.

The cave also have a unique passage, a very low and narrow opening where you would have to crawl to get into and out.

The Pangihan cave according to one guide was once a fortress or hide out of the people in time immemorial especially during world war 2. That is why here you can still see the debris or marks and some graffiti which reminds of the past life.  

Caving or Spelunking

One of the major reasons why people are fascinated by caves is the presence of cave formation or speleothems. These comes in many different shapes, but are all formed by mineral deposited in water. The common speleothems are stalactites and stalagmites grow up from the floor.

The phrase, " Stalactite" "hang tight" and "Stalagmites""grow might" or you may help remember it where each one of these forms, by its word stalagmites grown from the ground, while stalactites grown from the ceiling. 

Once stalactites and stalagmites meet, a column is formed.  Columns can continue to grow even after they formed, becoming larger and larger in diameter. 

Some columns are large enough for new stalactites to sprout from its sides. Another typical speleothems is a drapery. Draperies are formed in much the same way as stalactites except that the drops of water flow down an incline from the ceiling rather fall directly from the ceiling.  Draperies are thin and usually wavy much like the curtains that people hang on picture windows.Helictites on the other hand are small, twisted deposits of minerals ( usually calcite) that grow and formed by seeping water that is water that hasn't formed drops and doesn't flow which keeps their size relatively small and seemingly permits them to defy gravity.

Caves are unique natural wonder and must not be defaced. Writing graffiti on the walls or removing caves formations ( including the nests of the swift let used in bird's nest soup) are frowned upon by every caves in the world.  In most countries it is against the law. Cave life lives a precarious existence and it should not be disturbed or collected. Caving can be very enjoyable experience but it is not to be taken lightly nor done by the inexperienced or unprepared. It provides an unforgettable experience in an underground world, True from the stresses of city life we however must always remember that everything brought into a cavern mus be taken back out. 

So whether you are a nature lover like me or a newbie in caving there are enough caves to explore with varying degrees of difficulty. But what is more important is the conservation of these natural wonders. These caves are formed by the natural hands of nature as old as the earth itself and with the careless hands of an irresponsible man could destroy them in an instant. Hence do your part to conserve them as i am doing mine.

This is just a reminder, During stopovers you need to turn your lights off to save up energy and afford you to feel what is like to be enveloped in total darkness.

INFOS

Simply put caving is the exploration of caves. It may no be the first a cave has been entered but it might be exploration on a personal level by someone who has not been in that particular cave before. Caving is different from speleology, which is the study of caves. This was further confused by a third term_ spelunking. Which was coined in the first half of the 1900 to describe. Visiting cave for recreational purposes. For long time thus spelunking and caving became pretty much synonymous.

Caves- Are also called caverns, are naturally hollow areas in the earth that are large enough for a person to enter.

Stalactites carved by time at the aperture, cast shadows on the walls that seems to conjure images of deities perpetually etched in stones.

Longest cave ever explored is the mammoth flint ridge cave system in Kentucky USA. ( 550 klms)

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On the surface, Mammoth National Park in central Kentucky encompasses around 80 square miles, but underneath lies a twisting labyrinth of limestone caves, creating a network that earns the title of the longest cave system in the world.

For inquiries

Please write me at this email

rhewitz@gmail.com

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