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Adventurers have stumbled across a cave so enormous
that it has its own weather system, complete with wispy clouds and
lingering fog inside vast caverns.
A team of expert cavers and photographers have been exploring the vast
cave system in the
Chongquing province of China and have taken the first-ever photographs
of the natural wonder.
They were amazed to discover the entrance to the hidden Er Wang Dong
cave system and were stunned when they managed to climb inside to see a
space so large that it can contain a cloud.
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Photographer and caver Robbie Shone, from Manchester, was part of a team
of 15 explorers on a month-long expedition that discovered the hidden
system.
'A few of the caves had previously been used by nitrate miners, at the
areas close to the entrance, but had never been properly explored
before,' he said.
'All the major passageways were deep underground and had never seen
light before.
'It is always very special, knowing that you are the first to step foot
into a cave or somewhere where nobody had previously seen, not knowing
what you might find and discover. |
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'Where else on Earth can still hold secrets and mysteries of discovery?
That's what I love so much about exploring.
Mr Shones was particularly excited about the cave network's interior
weather system.
'I had never seen anything quite like the inside cloud ladder before,'
he said.
'Thick cloud and fogs hangs in the upper half of the cave, where it gets
trapped and unable to escape through the small passage in the roof, 250m
above the ground.
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'It reminded me of being in an abandoned slate quarrying North Wales in
bad weather.
The cave system discovered is not the only one with clouds inside, as
humidity rises inside the caverns into colder air to form clouds inside
the giant, enclosed spaces.
The network, includes 'Cloud Ladder Hall' which itself measures around
51,000 metres squared, while there are rivers and vegetation on the
floor of some of its huge caverns.
'Most caves are either accessed by large walking entrance, some require
a long deep swim, other may be very vertical in nature where you need
ropes to abseil down the walls deep into the caves.
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'We had to be aware of high water levels inside the caves, especially
when it rained heavily on the surface.
'The drainage catchment to these caves is massive and soon the caves can
be extremely dangerous and impassable,' he added.
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