subject: Cueva Fun Fun In The Dominican Republic [print this page] The Dominican Republic is loaded with above ground natural beauty; tropical jungles, exotic birds and animals, vibrant vegetation and a vivacious culture. Yet there is also unusual and very ancient beauty under the soil of the Dominican. Not far from the resort town of Punta Cana, there is the Cueva Fun Fun or Fun Fun Cave. As the oldest and one of the largest caves in the nation, Fun Fun Cave holds innumerable secrets of the ancient peoples once living on the island of Hispaniola.
Fun Fun Cave was formed from the underground river gradually eroding the limestone walls away. As the waves and ripples splash and erode the limestone, marine corals and insects in the water were gradually encased in limestone particles on the walls. At the same time, the repetitive nature of moving water created beautiful flowing limestone formations along the walls of the cave. The carbonates in the water vapor from the river, have helped (over the course of eons) to create massive stalagmites, which hang from the ceiling.
Complete and total darkness envelopes, and sometimes surprises, visitors to the Fun Fun Cave. Turn off the helmet lights, and the darkness becomes all-encompassing! Listen to the thundering flutter of bats flying high above. A long underground river and it's ever-present torrent of water, is responsible for this remarkable cave. Then turn on the helmet lamp and prepare to be astounded by colossal stalagmites, stalactites and coladas. Watch the cave walls for signs of ancient petroglyphs and pictographs, dating back to pre-Columbian cultures. Pictographs are images painted on the rock, while petroglyphs are pictorial carvings in the rock face.
To the pre-Tainos peoples who used these caves thousands of years ago, they were the residences of the gods and the place where spirits of the dead congregated. If anyone wished to communicate with the dead or the gods, they went to the caves and drew their messages in pictures on the cave walls. Incredibly, after many thousands of years, proof of an ancient civilization still exists in those messages.
The Fun Fun Cave is also inhabited by bats. These are not the vampire bats of so many horror stories; in fact the bats of Fun Fun Cave are herbivores, feeding only on fruit. Swallows also reside near the entrance to the cave, choosing the hollows of the rock as a safe place to nest during the winter.
Because of a lack of sunlight there is virtually no vegetation in the Cave. Areas where the limestone roof has eroded, allows some light to come through (in what are known as chimneys), and some flora does exist in these entrance-ways. The vegetation has little colour, due to a lack of chlorophyll. A developed hypersensitivity has allowed the tiny marine life in the river to find their way around, as the critters are colorless and blind. The Fun Fun Cave is a wonderful way to have a safe and eye-opening adventure while in the Dominican Republic!
