The caves of Romania

Little Blue Birdie's Diary

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Hi!

We thought of refreshing this page in the new year. We thought of giving you also an opportunity to send in your creative ideas for a new page layout, as a graphic or a drawing.

You can email us on [email protected] or snail mail to Little Blue Birdie's Diary, Junior Observer, Lake House, No.35, D. R. Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo 10.

The best idea will receive a beautiful drawing of Little Blue Birdie and her team at the Big Ben done by a professional artist. Send us your entries before 18.02.2007.

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Dear Diary,

It was a long time ago that we flew to the United Kingdom. We have been to only a few places still, and there are many more interesting places to visit. But, my friends have been feeling a bit bored with the country. To keep them enthusiastic, I realised that we'll have to move to another country.

I had been thinking about this for a while when, one day, Papa Bird called me from Sri Lanka. He gave me the idea about another country to visit. The idea had really been given to him by one of his friends; Uncle John, a Britisher who works as a consultant in Sri Lanka.

He seems to be so fond of our journeys. So, he had told Papa Bird that we can visit Romania, the country of caves. He had also said that people say there is a cave named after Count Dracula! So, we decided to move. Luckily, our guide bird, Aaron knew the flight route to Romania. So, with a shout of "Romania, here we come!" we spread our wings and took off.

It was a five-day flight. We didn't fly at a stretch. We stopped every few hours to relax, because we didn't want to get too tired and fall ill.

Sometimes, when we started to feel tired on the way, Aaron related to us the history of the caves in Romania.

Here's what he said: "Around 12,000 caves have been inventoried (listed) in Romania. It is true that most of them are rather small as they cover only a few dozen metres, but there are also many caves which are longer than 5 km. And there are also a few that are more than 10 km long."

Aaron added that there are only 5,000 km of keratic (cave bearing) rocks in Romania, while keratic rocks ranging between 10 and 20 million sq.km, as big as a large continent, are believed to be found throughout the world.

This is a continent of mystery and unknown subjects: new crystals and minerals, stone formations which exceed the power of imagination, unknown animals, and palaeontological (related to the study of life in the past) and archaeological remains. "Could we find, a richer storage of topics for a story anywhere else? " asked Aaron enthusiastically, to which everyone agreed with the vigorous nodding of their heads.

We decided that the first thing we visit after landing in Romania will be a cave. Aaron was so enthusiastic about them and his enthusiasm affected us as well.

According to him, in a land mass of 237,500 km2 in Romania, the rocks favourable to the development of the caves (limestone, marble, dolomites, sandstone, salt) cover 6,320 km2 (2.6 per cent of the territory).

The Romanian caves had been mentioned for the first time in the 17th century in literature related to speleology (study of caves) and geography. The first topographic (local geography) plans in the world had been made in 1692 in Veteran Cave (Almaj Mountains). Zmeilor Cave from Onceasa (Bihor Mountains) had been mentioned in the 19th century. The skeletons of hundreds of Ursus spelaeus had been discovered in this cave.

In 1897, the first monograph (a scholarly study) in the Romanian language was made for the Ialomita Cave (Bucegi Mountains). In the 19th and 20th centuries, the first caves were prepared for tourism.

In 1965, a team from the Speleology Institute discovered ancient human remains in the Ciur-Izbuc Cave (Padurea Craiului Mountains). Among 14 such caves in the world, more than 400 human traces were discovered from this site. In Romania, 73 caves were known in 1884; 200 in 1915; 500 in 1945; and 984 in 1965. As a result of many discoveries being made, 1,973 caves were known by 1976, while in 1978, almost 3,400 caves were known. Today, more than 12,500 caves are known. The longest cave in Romania is Vantului Cave (Padurea Craiului Mountains), which is 50 km.

The largest difference of level is noticed in the hollows under Coltii Grindului (Piatra Craiului Mountains)which is 540 m, while the largest positive difference of level is in Sura Mare Cave (Sureanu Mountains), 405 m. The largest vertical cave is located in Clocoticiul din Carca Paretilor (Valcan Mountains) and measures 121 m. The exploration of this cave was done by the Emil Racovita Club from Bucharest.

The largest underground waterfall is located in Gavanului Cave from Gura Cerului (Somes Plateau), 52 m. After hearing Aaron's long description about caves in Romania, I felt that it would not be wrong to call Romania 'the land of the caves'.

So, we decided to visit the caves as soon as we are fit to go around. Wait for our wonderful travel details brought from these beautiful places.

See you!

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