The amazing discovery of a salt cave near the Dead Sea
A new salt cave was found in Israel, said to be one of the longest caves found to date:
Israeli researchers said Thursday they have surveyed what they now believe to be the world’s longest salt cave, a network of twisting passageways at the southern tip of the Dead Sea.Well if it's being dubbed a "wedding hall", they might want to take the challenge of holding actual weddings there too in the future. This is a most fantastic discovery, which I hope to visit in the future.
A recently completed survey of the Malham Cave determined the labyrinthine cavern stretches more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) in length. That puts it well ahead of Iran’s Namakdan Cave, previously thought to be the longest salt cave.
The survey was conducted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a collection of Israeli, Bulgarian and international volunteers.
Boaz Langford, a researcher at the university’s Caves Research Center, and Antoniya Vlaykova, a Bulgarian cave explorer from the European Speleological Federation, headed the expedition.
“What’s unique about this cave, as opposed to other salt caves in the world, is that it’s the longest in the world,” Langford said, resting in a chamber of the cave dubbed the “Wedding Hall” for its salt stalactites.
Langford and Vlaykova said they plan to publish the complete map of the cave in a professional publication in the coming months.
