SCHOOL ON RADIO USE FOR DIGITAL AND MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATIONS 11th February - 1st March 2002 , Trieste (Italy)
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Title: Visit to the Giant Cave

Author: KOUAGOU Yebeni Batidao <kouagou@ictp.trieste.it>


At the end of the second week, the participants at the school were
given the opportunity to visit the biggest cave of the world, the
so called Giant Cave, which is 15 kilometers far from Trieste on the
Carso, near the homonymous village. The visit
was offered by the school and the programme of the visit was to go on
foot. The departure was planed to be at 9.00 am from the Galileo Guest
House, but the group really left at 9.20. There were seventeen
(17) volunteers ready to walk and among them were two women. The
responsibles of that team who also served as guides for this walk were
Prof. Ermanno Pietrosemoli and Dr. Carlo Fonda. 
We first stopped at the Miramare railway station where Carlo did a
briefing of the history of that station who actually is in its original
status as it was built to serve as a private stop for the emperor
Maximillien for joining his castel.
The team continued his walk under the careful guidance of Prof
Petrosemoli and Dr Carlo Fonda, with many other stops during which there
was something to learn from the two guides: history of the region, the
people, the relief and also of the vegetation; particularly we spoke
enough about the world of frogs. Finally, we arrived 20 minutes
before 12.00 and since visits are scheduled to start every hour, we used
the 20 minutes to visit the Museum of speleology near the cave and Dr
Carlo Fonda also took some minutes to buy the tickets for the seventeen
(17) participants. 
In the Museum, we were exposed to many speleological, geological and
paleontological finds and also some valuable archeological pieces and a
poster collection of the cave. Although the participants have been
already informed that inside the cave it is forbidden to take
pictures, they could see it outside the Museum on a panel
that also indicates five hundred (500) stairs to reach 
the lower level platteform reserved for visitors and also the
temperature of 11 degres. Then arrived time to visit the cave. Carlo Fonda
first distributed the tickets to each participant. There were other
visitors and since we formed an important group due to our number, we let
them move ahead. We entered the cave at 12.05 after giving our tickets to
the gatekeeper; from there our two initial guides were now replaced by one
expert guide. 
The cave actually has two entries; we entered using the one closer to the
Museum and we went out through the other.
Inside the cave it was like a dream, because few minutes ago we could
not imagine that near the place where we were talking and laughing, there
was an exception in carsic phenomena.
The enormous cave is about 107 meters high, 280 meters long and 65 meters
wide and is illuminated by electric lighting and could contain the Saint 
Peter's Basilica. This cavern has been inserted in the Record Guiness Book
since 1995 as the biggest tourist cavern in the world.
>From an confortable and suggestive path we could have a look at the
wonderful and charming underground world represented by the caves and the
rich calcite concretions, the highest of which is no less than 12 meters
high. Also the temperature inside the cave is constant during the whole 
year. Three of the participants tried to assure themselves that the 
number of stairs specified on the panel was exact and counted them;
they found that the number of stairs was 503. From the lower place for
tourist visitors that is not the lower of the whole cave, we started going
upstairs to go out through the second entrance. The visit took 45
minutes; during the visit we receive twice a short briefing from the guide
who was speaking Italian; the other visitors could listen to the same
explaination in English recorded on a tape by a sweet woman voice. When we
thought we have seen enough and it remained few stairs to be outside we
were now faced to an original skeleton of Ursus Spelaeus, the biggest
mammalian that was living the caves. Less than a couple of minutes later
we were outside.
To come back at ICTP some people suggested to take a bus and others
were ready to walk again. It was not easy to find a bus at Borgo Grotta
Gigante on Sunday. For the return, we left at 13.05; on our way back,
the group was no more compact since some participants were really
tired. But Dr Carlo Fonda and Prof E. Pietrosemoli who had recovered
again their role of guides were taking care about everyone namely when we
had to cross mainroads.
Finally the group was divided, since some few people were going faster
and apart from that few persons the remaining took a bus at Opicina, then
went through Trieste. The first partcipant to arrive at ICTP was among
that few people going by on foot and it was exactly at 14.00.


Yebeni

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