Wild China Page #3

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No prizes for guessing

what this one is called!

But there's more to this landscape

than meets the eye.

China has literally thousands

of mysterious caverns

concealed beneath

the visible landscape of the karst.

Much of this hidden world

has never been seen by human eyes

and is only just now being explored.

(MAN SPEAKING CHINESE)

For a growing band of intrepid

young Chinese explorers,

caves represent the ultimate adventure.

Exploring a cave is like

taking a journey through time.

Ajourney which endless raindrops will

have followed over countless centuries.

Fed by countless drips and trickles,

the subterranean river carves

ever deeper into the rock.

The cave river's course is channelled

by the beds of limestone.

A weakness in the rock

can allow the river

to increase its gradient and flow-rate,

providing a real challenge for

the cave explorers.

The downward rush is halted

when the water table is reached.

Here the slow-flowing river carves

tunnels with a more rounded profile.

(MEN CHATTERING)

This tranquil world is home

to specialised cave fishes,

like the eyeless golden barb.

China may have more unique

kinds of cave-evolved fishes

than anywhere else on earth.

Above the water table,

ancient caverns abandoned

by the river slowly fill up

with stalactites and stalagmites.

Stalactites form as trickling water

deposits tiny quantities of rock

over hundreds or thousands of years.

Stalagmites grow up where

lime-laden drips hit the cave floor.

Oi!

Whoo-hoo!

So far, only a fraction of China's caves

have been thoroughly prospected

and cavers are constantly discovering

new subterranean marvels,

many of which are subsequently

developed into commercial show caves.

Finally escaping the darkness,

the cave river and its human explorers

emerge in a valley

far from where their journey began.

For now, the adventure is over.

Rivers which issue from caves

are the key to survival

in the karst country.

This vertical gorge in Guizhou Province

is a focal point for

the region's wildlife.

This is one of

the world's rarest primates,

Franois' langur.

In China they survive

in just two southern provinces,

Guizhou and Guangxi,

always in rugged limestone terrains.

Like most monkeys,

they are social creatures

and spend a great deal of time

grooming each other.

Langurs are essentially vegetarian

with a diet of buds,

fruits and tender young leaves.

Babies are born with ginger fur,

which gradually turns black

from the tail end.

Young infants have a vice-like grip,

used to cling on to mum for dear life.

As they get older,

they get bolder and take more risks.

Those that survive

spend a lot of time travelling.

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