Unknown Russia - Ordinskaya Grotto, an unusual cave of the western Urals.

There are places on Earth, which due to their inaccessibility have remained almost untouched by human hand, foot or, as in this case, fin. They show the primordial beauty of our planet, the beauty that takes your breath away and makes it hard to make any comment, because no words of admiration can express the possibility of communing with a true wonder of nature. Such a place is the Ordinskaya Grotto, located in Russia, in the mountains of the western Urals.

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Orda Cave, stretching over 5km, is one of the most magnificent and longest caves in the Urals. The water inside is so crystal clear that visibility is 45m. It started to be explored by divers in the 1990s, but at that time both the equipment and the skills of local divers did not allow to spread wings. Times have changed, however, and today divers from the Urals, belonging in large measure to the GUE organisation (Global Underwater Explorers), are excellently trained and equipped, so nothing stands in the way of penetrating and exploring further caves. Throughout the whole year there are training for cave diversand in the vicinity there is an appropriate infrastructure and tourist facilities.

For people who are not familiar with the topic of cave diving, the photos presenting the charms of the Ural cave, may seem like a photomontage, or primaaprilis joke, but I assure you – such places exist, and I am glad that one of them we can present to you today.

For over six months, a team of leading Russian cave divers, led by photographer Viktor Lyagushkin, explored the cave and completed photo and video documentation. This was part of a larger project (Orda Cave Awareness Project) to showcase the beauty of the Ural cave and place it under special protection.

“This cave is something amazing, unique, a true wonder of nature! But if someone wants to visit it in person, they have to be a well-trained and experienced cave diver. This means several years of hard training, equipment that’s quite expensive and weighs a lot, which is why we’ve decided to present the Ordinskaya cave in photos, so people can see its beauty without leaving their homes,” – Viktor Lyagushkin said

Cave diving is very difficult and dangerous, despite all their experience the divers taking part in the project stuck rigidly to safety rules.

“We try to keep the risk of an accident to an absolute minimum. Before each dive, we discuss our crossing step by step. If it’s too dangerous we don’t take the risk. During such dives, every step you take must be sure, otherwise you die,” – warns Lyagushkin

“The reward for making the effort and planning everything right is to be able to see, something incredible, amazing and unique – a place where there was no one before you formed over millions of years by nature, without human interference. I think that’s how the people visiting the moon must have felt.”

The structure of the cave is so delicate that even bubbles of exhaled air can damage its vault. The members of the project therefore had to construct a special funnel to guide the air out of the cave.

“The scientific community, is very interested in studying the cave, but they have no way to get into it,” says Lyagushkin, in this situation they can only count on cave divers. We’ve taken samples of water, sediment and minerals, in different parts of the cave. If people don’t see the underwater world, they won’t recognise its beauty and understand that it needs special protection, which is why we’ve taken on this project.

Beautiful photos taken as part of the Orda Cave Awareness Project – Gallery

Source: www.daily.mail.co.uk
Photo: Viktor Lyagushkin/ordacave.ru