'The cave is a magical place. Here we can find united the primordial elements: the rock, the water and the dark. Myths and legends; the ancestral fear of the labyrinth.'
CRISTIAN LASCU, Editor- in -Chief, National Geographic Romania
'The prestige at the root of Romanian Speleology is due to the great Romanian explorer and scientist Emil Racovita (1868- 1947). Emil Racovita was the biologist of the Belgica Expedition, the first Antarctic scientific expedition (1897-1899.) His scientific discoveries and his published papers recommended him, and at the age of just 32, Emil Racovita was appointed as Director of the Arago Laboratory in Banyuls-sur- Mer, France. Not long after, while visiting the Cueva del Drach cave in Mallorca, Balearics, Racovita first saw under water a blind cave crustacean. The encounter was decisive: Racovita understood the biological time capsule function of the underground world.
We live in a consumption society. Everything, including nature can be packed, sold, digested and turned to waste. Some caves may become touristic investments. Rock will be blasted, passages will be blown up, concrete pathways and electricity will be employed to allow the tourist access in the caves. The investment may pay back, the cave may make money, but the original appearance of the cave will be forever destroyed. A small and temporary profit will compromise a wild natural oasis and future generations will be deprived of their right to live the thrill and the magic of the deep.'
CRISTIAN LASCU, Caves Beyond Time
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