Groups (15+): Adults EUR 5.
Spelunkking tours: Per Person EUR 30.
[2007]
Karst cave.
| Location: | East coast, province Ogliastra (ex Nuoro). North of Baunei. 50 min. boat ride from ports of S.Maria Navarrese, Arbatax, Cala Gonone, La Caletta (Siniscola), Cala Ginepro. Visit official website for a list of boat operators. (40°1'51.17"N, 9°42'19.68"E) |
| Open: | All year daily. Boats leave at 9:00, return at 17:30. [2007] |
| Fee: |
Adults EUR 7, Children (6-12) EUR 4, Children (0-6) free. Groups (15+): Adults EUR 5. Spelunkking tours: Per Person EUR 30. [2007] |
| Classification: |
Karst cave.
|
| Light: | electric. |
| Dimension: | L=1,800m. |
| Guided tours: | |
| Bibliography: | |
| Address: |
Societa Speleologica Baunese, 08040 Baunei (OG), Mario +390-333-9634349, Claudio +390-349-1463802.
E-mail: |
| Last update: | $Date: 2008/07/01 20:25:55 $ |
| AUG-2003 | opened to the public. |
Grotta del Fico (Cave of the Fig) is the yooungest show cave of Sardinia, and probably the most beautiful one. Beneath its beauty it has some importance in the history of Sardinian speleology. Padre Furreddu, one of the first local speleologists, studied the monk seal (Monachus monachus) living in the cave with the mammals for many days.
The cave is located very remote on the foot of a steep cliff. The coast in this area is a series of up to 400m high limestone cliffs. Once the coast was populated by the monk seals, but the last seals have been seen in the early 1980s. What really happened, why they left this area, is not knon. However, it is guessed that they were threatened by hunting, fishing and pollution, and as the number decreased, they now only live in a few areas.
The cave is operated by a caving club, but as it partly filled with salt water from the Mediterranean and sweet water from the inland, there are numerous sumps or siphons, which are inpassable by regular cavers. In 2006 cave divers from Germany surveyed the underwater entrance from the sea. They also crossed the sump at the former end of he cave and surveyed another dry passage with fine speleothems, including helictites covered by calcite crystals, which results in really strange abstract structures. There may be even more discoveries waiting for the cave divers.
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