Richard And Jo Demeester's photos with the keyword: cave

Madonna degli Angeli. We were the only people up there, and so even just to be somewhere the crowds weren't going was a plus. The state of abandonment made me feel a bit sad, especially to see that some visitors had chosen to graffiti right over the top of centuries old paintings. Even in there decaying state, or maybe because of that, they deserve respect.

I was less comfortable with the headroom inside. The river source was not far inside, a perfect fresh water spring.

We knew not what to expect. There was a sign at a fork pointing to the Grotta Delle Fate, and the distance seemed to fit in with how much time we wanted to spend on the trail. Having an endpoint to aim for adds a small extra incentive to completing a set amount of activity, so we thought a cave sounded like a perfect target to get to. The last sign we saw pointed off the main trail, down an embankment to a river, where we stood on the bank for a few minutes enjoying the serenity but questioning the existence of any cave in the area. A little evidence of scrambling along the river bank encouraged us to head upstream a hundred metres, and there was the cave – with the river coming out of it. A perfect fresh water spring oasis in the forest.

Can you see the curvaceous figure in the rock formation?

One of the beautiful cave formations in the underground river of Puerto Princesa Subterranean River.

The beautiful grotto beneath Capo Caccia, over 600 steps down from the road. Full of great formations, and a salt lake syphoned from the sea, it was named after the king of the sea when discovered by fishermen in the 15th century.

Fossilised dinosaur footprints in the caves of Sataplia, Georgia.

We nearly missed this cave, as it was a bit awkward to get to, but since it was one of the very few which had a sign, we made a bigger effort. And glad we did. The carved arches and the work around the column made it a highlight.

The cathedral is carved out of an old salt mine, at Zipaquirá. It is a beautiful place to visit. Unfortunately, the photo does not do justice to the scale.

A large and impressive bust, perhaps a thousand years old, in the cave temples on Elephanta Island, not far from Mumbai.

Some of the centuries old carvings in the cave temples on Elephanta Island, not far from Mumbai.

One of those blurs is Jo. This fantastic pool in a cave is Cenote Dzitnup, near Valladolid. The water is crystal clear, due to the natural limestone filtration that occurs. There were some fish in there, too. In fact, quite a lot.

Jo swims across the pool of water that flows through the cave entrance of Actun Tunichil Muknal.

The calcified skeleton of a teenage girl, found in the far reaches of Actun Tunichil Muknal.

Thousand year old pottery pieces, lying about a cave. The main cavern of Actun Tunichil Muknal is littered with hundreds of pottery pieces and thousands of fragments.

Some of the beautiful formations (behind us, that is), in the main cavern of Actun Tunichil Muknal. This cavern is called “The Cathedral”.

A bat poses for a photo!

Faces from eras past, carved into the walls of a waterline cave on an island in Lake Nicaragua.