• From a thriving cave school to a cavern overflowing with giant razor-sharp crystals,
we count ten bizarre and interesting caves that actually exist!
10 – Phraya Nakhon Cave, • If you think all caves are dank dark places
where bats hang out listening to death metal, you’re wrong!
Located in one of Thailand’s most popular national parks, Phraya Nakhon is a bright
and sunny cave that’s so inviting even the country’s royalty like hanging out there!
• Because the cave’s roof has collapsed in, the whole place is constantly filled up
with generous amounts of sunlight.
This means royals and tourists alike always look their best in photos.
• To make the most of this photogenic location, workers built a pavilion in the centre of
the cave for King Chulalongkorn.
The king’s successors have also made pilgrimages to the cave to carve their signatures on its
walls.
It’s a royal tradition.
9 – The Marble Cathedral, • The Cuevas de Marmol, or ‘Marble Cathedral’,
is one of the most unique caves in the world.
It has crystal blue waters and the beautiful swirling patterns on its walls make it seem
like it’s from another world.
• Located in Patagonia on the Chilean-Argentina border, this amazing natural wonder came about
waves crashed into calcium carbonate for six thousand years.
It also has a neat party trick: its waters change colour depending on the weather, time
of year and the current water level.
• You might be thinking: this cave’s pretty cool.
I might go visit it.
Well, doing so involves a long flight to Coyhaique city, a 320-kilometre drive and a dangerous
boat trip.
Hey, I said it was almost another world!
8 – Fingal’s Cave, • If you want the best architect around,
hire Mother Nature!
Just check out her résumé, which includes Scotland’s incredible Fingal’s Cave.
It may look like hundreds of hours of man-labour went into this cave’s intricate geometric
patterns, but nope – it was all Mother Nature!
Woman just rolls up her sleeves and gets shit done.
• In truth, Fingal’s Cave’s crazy good design work was caused by hot prehistoric
lava pouring in, cooling off, and then cracking in a hexagonal pattern.
When the lava completely dried up, it left an amazing piece of art for adventurers to
explore.
• One notable explorer was composer Felix Mendellsohn, who visited Fingal’s Cave in
1829.
Felix was so inspired by what the cathedral-like acoustics there that he composed his most
famous song – ‘Hebrides Overture’ – in honour of the experience.
7 – Glow Worm Cave, • Attention all travellers!
If you like the sound of taking a romantic canoe ride through a beautiful ambient cave
– and let’s be honest: you know you do – you should totally visit the Waitomo cave
system in northern New Zealand!
• Its warm, calming atmosphere is perfectly complemented by the twinkling fairy lights
hanging off its ceiling and walls.
Oh, no wait – those aren’t lights; they’re actually thousands of creepy crawly glow worms
peering down at you!
• This popular glow worm cave was formed more than thirty million years ago.
You may think they just love on light shows for us, but glow worms actually use their
ancient technique called bioluminescence to lure prey to them.
The prey gets close and then – bam!
– it’s trapped in silky thread, ready to be eaten.
That’s right: your romantic cave date isn’t just infested with bugs; it’s full of murder!
6 – Vatnajökull Glacier Cave, • If you want to visit a cave that looks
like a futuristic nightclub, Iceland’s Crystal Caves is for you.
According to the Extreme Iceland tour service, the caves get their incredible colours from
a combination of ‘time, pressure, and secrecy’.
• Pockets of air that have been trapped in glaciers are squeezed out when they travel
down the slopes of mountain ridges.
This makes the beautiful ice crystals grow in size and clarity.
It’s like you’re playing some glorious next gen video game with the sexiest graphics
your eyes have ever seen.
• Oh, and the best part of these caves is that new ones are discovered each season,
meaning you can come back each year and have a totally new experience.
5 – Orda Cave, • Every good video game needs an underwater
level, so we can’t have a cave list without an underwater entry.
Orda Cave is Russia’s longest underwater cave with gypsum crystals.
This beautiful cavern is five kilometres long ands its water is so clear that divers can
see forty-five metres in front of them.
• Only problem is it’s very easy to get lost in Orda Cave.
There are hundreds of branching passageways and new caverns are being discovered all the
time.
• It’s also super dangerous, with collapsible walls, passages, and surface water reaching
a bracing -20° Celsius.
Divers have actually reported seeing bus-sized chunks of gypsum rock falling from the ceiling!
It sounds scary, but every good underwater needs a few obstacles…
4 – Dongzhong Cave, • The poor folks in China’s Miao village
didn’t have the resources to build a proper school, so they did what anyone would do:
they set one up in a nearby cave!
• Dongzhong Mid-Cave Primary was a unique school that catered to 186 disadvantaged students,
many of whom travelled up to six hours a day just for the chance to learn something!
Makes you feel bad for daydreaming through English class.
What was the teacher talking about again?
Romero and Julia?
Who are they?
• The school enjoyed twenty-three years of operation before authorities closed it
in 2011.
A government spokesperson said the closure was necessary because China isn’t a ‘society
of cavemen’.
But I know the real reason: he was probably from the rival Treehouse School.
Those assholes always thought they were better than everyone else…
3 – Fantasy Cave, • Want to know what New Zealand’s answer
to Disneyland is?
A cave of a different sort: the twenty-five-year-old family attraction Fantasy Cave!
It began life as a Santa Cave for kids, but slowly evolved into a year-’round exhibit
for the whole family.
• The cave is tucked away in the rural town of Dannevirke and is completely run by a dedicated
team of cave-dwelling volunteers.
Displays are changed every year, so there’s always new stuff to see.
• This curious tourist attraction was even the subject of a 2015 documentary.
2 – Cave of Crystals, • In the year 2000 scientists discovered
a cave bursting from every wall with enormous crystals.
The cave was connected to Mexico’s Naica Mine and had to have over thirty gallons of
water drained before it could be explored.
• Known as the Cave of Crystals, this place has crystal formations that are mind-bogglingly
large.
We’re talking over thirty feet long.
They formed because the water in this cave was rich in calcium sulphate and was heated
by a magma infusion.
This made the Cave of Crystals extremely hot.
Explorers could only endure it for ten minutes at a time without proper protection.
• Although beautiful, it’s a very dangerous place.
Temperatures can reach up to 112 degrees and the 600,000-year-old crystal formations are
razor sharp, meaning one wrong move and you’re sliced and toasted.
1 – The Blue Grotto, • This majestic Italian cave has a total
ban on the colour red.
It’s called the Blue Grotto because of its shimmering blue water, which is caused by
sunlight flooding the cave through an underwater entrance.
This water completely filters out all red light, leaving nothing but a deep sexy blue.
• The Blue Grotto is such an eerie sight that people once believed the cave was home
to supernatural forces, like fairies, sirens and even devils.
• If you want maximum spookiness they say it’s best to visit the Blue Grotto right
after lunch so you can see rays of light shining right outside
the cave.