海南

Hainan

Hainan is the smallest and southernmost province of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It consists only of one big island in the South China Sea named Hainan Island, which is surrounden by numerous very small uninhabited islands. The island has many areas with limestone, mostly Devonian age, about 400 Ma, and the karst is tropical with karst towers and stone forests. There is also some volcanism, in the northern area there are several craters, some filled with a lake, and even a small lava tube.

It seems in the last decade there was some planning to open at least three more show caves. Unfortunately the planning has not yet ended, construction not begun, but the caves are already widely published. One is the 东方娥娘洞 (Dongfang E-niang Cave) which is located east of the city Dongfang. At the moment the road end at the end of the valley, and the cave is accessible without restriction but requires caving skills. The other is 保亭仙龙溶洞 (Baoting Xianlong Cave) aka 毛感仙龙溶洞 (Maogan Qianlong Cave) which is located in the village Maogan west of Baoting. This cave actually has a Google Maps pin but the construction of the scenic area was not even started. And finally there is 獼猴洞 (Míhóu Dòng, Macaque Cave) which is located in the middle of tropical jungle on a mountainside. And again there are webpages and listings, and we had already created a page, when we finally learned that development never started despite years of planning.