CaptivatingRomania

Text: Mihai Savu; Translated & adapted by: Ciprian Morar
Photographs: Mihai Savu;

Blank spots on the map, completely unknown, still only exist under water and under ground. The man has always had a strong relationship with the cave - since prehistorical times in fact, but now, the science of speleology calls us again to explore the dark underworld.

I’ve often been asked what it is like to be in a cave, what’s on the floor, what do the walls and ceilings look like. The answer proved tricky, the underworld makes little resemblance to anything on the outside world. The first perception may be of a grim and unfriendly place - there are no plants, no animals (with the exception of a few bats and some insects), there’s no light. Just moisture, clay, limestone walls and a constant temperature.

Peştera Rece - M-ţii Bihor

Labyrinths of narrow galleries come your way. You crawl, dragging your body through water, or sometimes you do the same pushing your back against the ceiling; you descend in deep wells splashed continuously by ice cold torrents of water, you swim in underground lakes that you cannot even see where they end, you take deep, long breaths before sliding through tiny claustrophobic sections. Some rooms have their ceilings so low that they only leave about 5cm of air above water - you have no visual bearings as the light of your head torch does not reach anywhere, so nothing to guide you but your instincts.

Peştera lui Doboş - M-ţii Pădurea Craiului

Avenul lui Miron - M-ţii Bihor

The wonderland unfolds. Miracles never cease to appear: Frozen flowers live in a world of stone - stone drapes, slim and transparent covering the coral covered walls like a lace. Crystals have perfect growing conditions, cavern pearls decorate the magnificently queen fairy cave. Thousands of translucent stalactites, thin like transparent spaghetti slowly parachute from the ceiling, sometimes as long as 2-3 meters. A web of invisible threads made of gypsum tangle together creating fine and sparkly candy floss. Giant chalk domes, formed hundreds of years ago make you seem humble and small. Imposing columns subconsciously suggest the place for a first date between a stalactite and a stalagmite, thousands of years ago. A wonderful place for a first kiss….

Peştera lui Doboş - M-ţii Bihor

Peştera lui Doboş - M-ţii Bihor

Peştera lui Doboş - M-ţii Pădurea Craiului