Around the World in Six Caves

[Music] anytime i'm inside a cave i feel i'm in a different time scale above the ground is much faster the tree grows and dies in like 100 years but inside the caves it's millions of years and it's [Music] timeless eleven miles north of beirut hidden inside a mountain lies the jata grotto the pride of lebanon and one of the most majestic caves in the world when we say zeita cave everybody knows i gave it's a very important cave because it's the main water source of of beirut and the area nearby rural a small portion of the jata grotto is open to the public the rest is accessible only to a select few including the spilio club founded in 1951 it's the oldest most respected caving club in the middle east the spirit claude libon was founded during the explorations of jaita grotto the same history of our club is the history of jaita grotto every week the spilio club gets together and goes caving in the grotto when they explore they travel by boat down a subterranean black lake their mission is to discover new caves map them photograph them and ultimately protect them there's no doubt that is really a work of art simply because of its huge scale and its huge formations and those formations aren't set in stone the cave is very much alive all of this is still undergrowing it's not a fossil cave yet it's still leaving this cave in the last 65 years the spilio club has discovered over 600 caves every weekend their work goes on we can't say that we had explored old jeta caves because each two years or one years we discovered new things so we are still working inside and we will not finish [Music] to play the instrument that is utilizing our gentle earth it's like you are becoming one with the instrument in a very true way you just sit and go yes [Laughter] [Music] we're looking at the great stalag pipe organ of the blue ray caverns in luray virginia when i press a key it sends an electrical pulse up to a rubber tipped mallet which strikes the stalactite causing it to vibrate and producing a incredibly beautiful musical tone the area that the strikers cover is roughly three and a half acres which then makes it literally the world's largest musical instrument [Laughter] it is a very gentle sound very peaceful there's only one like it in the world and it's something incredibly different and wonderfully beautiful [Music] 150 feet underground in 30 million year old caves an unforgettable sight glitters in the dark the waitomo glowworm caves in new zealand are home to about 30 000 endemic arachnocampa luminosa glowworms they spend their days spinning silk nests from the ceilings and then lowering threads to fish for prey much like a spider the luminescent bead-like strings are spellbinding the glowworms use light to attract prey and burn off waste the glow is created by a combination of chemicals given off by the glowworm and the oxygen in the air the caves are ideal for the worms as they need a dark damp location where their light can be seen the way tomo caves they call home are named after the maori words wei which means water and tomo which means hole or shaft [Music] and although they live deep underground the journey to see them is never one to disappoint [Music] when you enter cenote it's really like going into another world like living leaving the planet behind this is feeling of really exploring something new and i feel very lucky to be able to see that [Music] my name is julian bird i've been free diving and scuba diving for the last 15 years we're in many different locations always trying to find the best diving spots those cenotes are archives all the cenotes are connected to each other and the water goes and flows from one sanote to another cenote to end up in the sea [Music] the first time you you go into cenotes it's something you don't see anywhere else it's completely a different experience than diving in the ocean at the beginning it can be a little bit scary but really quickly the beauty of the place will just take over [Music] some cenotes are very welcoming sometimes so big and so clear that uh it really gives you the sensation you go into a church and you don't want to talk too loud to not disturb anyone and some of the cenotes i also have a little bit like an atmosphere more like hell with dead trees in the bottom and sulfur the mayans were using the cenotes for a very long time basically the land where we are that's the place where the living people lives and then underneath the cenotes into the ground was the place for the dead every cenote have a different personality but i also think that he really affects your own personality at some point you kind of enter into like a meditation state that for me is completely priceless [Music] underneath the turkish region of cappadocia a system of hidden tunnels and caves went undiscovered for a thousand years until one man decided to renovate his home [Music] 18 stories below the ground level in the turkish region of cappadocia is the ancient hidden city derenkuyu the city was rediscovered in 1963 when a man knocked down a wall in his basement and stumbled across a hidden room this triggered an excavation of the area to reveal the hidden city that is a thousand years old and over 280 feet deep it is thought to have been created during the byzantine era around 1000 a.d to protect the community from wars and natural disasters it is made up of a network of tunnels connecting what would have been kitchens stables churches wells and even schools the cappadocia region is known for subterranean safe havens and it's speculated that danikuyu may have connected many of them the city likely could have hidden 20 000 people livestock and food supplies making it the largest underground city in cappadocia like a scene out of frozen in the mountains of shaanxi province in northern china lie the luisan mountains ningwoo ice caves a spectacle of icicles ice falls and ice stalagmites [Music] these caves are thought to have formed around three million years ago during an early ice age and while there are many caves like this around the world the ninglu caves are special for one particular reason this cave stays frozen all year long while temperatures can reach up to 70 degrees outside in the summer the temperature inside never rises above 32 degrees scientists believe this is due to the cave's natural bowling pin shape which traps cold air inside stretching thousands of feet down the top 300 feet are open to the public with five layers connected by a winding maze of ice stairs holes and bridges established as a national park in 2005 the caves are staged with colorful lights emphasizing the grandness of this ancient cavern it is truly a sight to behold [Music]

Channel: Great Big Story

Views: 40,555

Keywords: great big story, gbs, lag, documentary, docs, caves, planet earth, Yucatan, lebanon, turkey, underground, underwater, mexico, Travel & Adventure, Great Big Reels, New Releases, Nature & Animals

Id: Ahh6mlSOsj0

Length: 10min 0sec (600 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 30 2019