Scholarly record

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM: ADAPTATION OF THE NIEDZWIEDZIA CAVE TO TOURISM ACCESSIBILITY

Izabela Kotarska

Abstract

The Niedzwiedzia Cave is one of the longest and deepest caves in Poland. The object is protected by the Nature 2000 Program, its natural value was the reason for creating there the area of Nature Reserve as well. Part of the cave has been available for tourists from 1983. In 2010 the entrance into the new route of the Cave was discovered, the length of which was over 1000 m. In the new discovered cave spaces many different, unique dripstones: stalagmites, stalactites, cascades, draperies and domes are present. Because of the unique features of the discovery and its huge tourist potential, the decision was made to start works aiming to make the new part of the cave available for tourists. At the beginning the assumption was made, that the priority by new route designing was maintaining existing natural conditions in realizable unchanged state. That?s why works were started from detailed researches, measurements and observations, which documented: ? habitats of protected and rare species of plants and animals, ? places and conditions of bats hibernation, their migrations and swarming, ? climatic and geomorphological conditions of the cave. The tourist route of the cave was created on the basis of obtained research results. The subject of the paper are, developed by multidisciplinary team of specialists, technical and organizing solutions of opening the new cave space for tourists, which assure saving the natural conditions of the object.

Publication Impact Profile

• Captures
• Mendeley - Readers: 11

PLUMX see details

DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2019/5.1/s20.086

Publication details

Back to publication list