Cave People? Cave Tourists? Explorers? Going Underground in the Eyes of Representatives of the Cavers’ Community

In 2023, an attempt was made to study the community of cave descenders in Poland who met the criteria of so-called qualified tourists. The area of interest included issues concerning their motivation, emotional states accompanying cave descents, perception of the undertaken activity as such, as well as in the context of existing risk factors and overall tourist phenomena. The size of the ‘cavers’ community’ was estimated based on the membership in caving clubs operating within the Polish Mountaineering Association (PZA). It is about 2300 people (PZA n.d.). The PZA organises caving courses that equip their participants with the skills necessary in the underground, including knowledge of mountaineering or diving techniques. The survey conducted through caving clubs in terms of the representativeness of the sample surveyed was unsuccessful. Fifty-seven survey questionnaires were obtained, making the sample too small to be used for broader generalisations. Also, the survey questions were answered by those who wished to do so, and this simple fact means that the sample is non-prob-abilistic. Does the material obtained remain worthless? The author does not think so for reasons discussed below. Fifty-seven insightful descriptions of the experiences of people indulging in the passion of cave exploration were acquired, shedding light not only on the individuality of their experiences but also showing several similarities that allow us to sketch a collective portrait of this micro-community. The vast majority of research conducted among cave tourists concerns the so-called ‘casual cave tourist’, i.e. tourists visiting caves adapted for tourism and accessible to everyone (see for example Kim et al. 2008, Rachmawati, Sunkar 2013, Allan et al. 2015, Akca et al. 2016, Crane, Fletcher 2016, Shavanddasht et al. 2017, Antić et al. 2022b, Zieliński et al. 2022). On the contrary, the presented study describes the experiences of those cave tourists who descend into the natural ‘non-tourist’ underground, inaccessible to the average tourist. Thus, the members of the studied group might be named ‘dedicated cave tourist’. The perceived regularities can serve as a springboard for further research confirming or not the myth of the elitism of this part of the cavers’ community and the special place of the activity of descending into caves existing outside mass tourism, within cave tourism and tourism in general. Moreover, the research opens room for further investigations on the authenticity of cave tourists’ experiences and readiness for their commodification. The study also tries to fill the gap in research on cave tourism when it comes to the part of the phenomenon that happens outside show caves and the organised tourist space.

Cave tourism involves visiting caves for motivations that are perceived as touristic. Speleotourism is based not only on the natural qualities of caves (Crane, Fletcher 2016), primarily material (rock formations, flowstone formations, etc.) but also on their beauty, mystery, and myths associated with them. Owing to the nature of the cave environment (darkness, cold, water, and tight passageways) and the demands it places on man (mental and physical resilience, perseverance, and self-control), most caves are inaccessible to the mass, unprepared or unskilled tourist. For educational, protective, but also market reasons (a new tourist attraction drawing tourist traffic; Akca et al. [2016]), the caves with the greatest potential in these contexts have usually been adapted for tourism as so-called show caves (Cigna 2016). This part of cave tourism is of the most ‘conventional’ and usually mass character. It is attended by tourists from a broad socio-demographic spectrum (from families with children to seniors), visiting the caves individually or in organised groups under the supervision of a qualified tour guide. They are characterised by a different degree of substantive and psychophysical preparation for a visit to the cave environment and acquaintanceship in cave issues (or more broadly related to geoheritage). In this case, unique caves (e.g., the largest and deepest), with well-preserved flowstone formations, hiding ‘surprises’ in the form of underground rivers, waterfalls, reservoirs, monumental passages and chambers, prehistoric cave art, etc., are made available. Artificially illuminated show caves, with prepared infrastructural facilities, are usually made available within the framework of organised access under the supervision of a guide (guided tours; Cigna, Burri 2000, Garofano, Govoni 2012, Crane, Fletcher 2016, Antić et al. 2022a, Chiarini et al. 2022, Zieliński et al. 2022). Cave tourism, depending on what qualities of the caves are the basis for tourist use and interpretation, can carry out the tasks of sightseeing (general knowledge of the region), geotourism (cave structure, processes, and flowstone formations; kubalíková 2013, Antić et al. 2019, Antić et al. 2022a, Tomić, Marianović 2022, Zieliński et al. 2022, Tesfa, Zewdie 2023), ecotourism (flora and fauna of the caves), (paleo)archeotourism (cultural heritage of the protohumans, paleontology; Duval et al. [2017]). In the caves, to make them more attractive to a mass audience with different interests and needs in terms of leisure and entertainment, various other activities are carried out: cultural (concerts in the Drach Cave, Mallorca) or team-building events are organised, unconventional weddings or other special events are held (Jenolan Caves, Australia). Various trains run through the caves (Postojna Jama Cave, Slovenia), boats float (Waitomo Caves, New Zealand), luxury or unconventional accommodations are built based on them. A visit to a cave can therefore be part of cultural tourism (Antić, Mayor 2023), adventure tourism (Spalević, Igračev 2011) or finally incentive tours. The attractiveness of caves also stems from the physical demands it places on explorers. Participants in mass cave tourism are subject to research and segmentation (Kim et al. 2008, Allan et al. 2015, Antić et al. 2022b), mainly because the cave becomes a tourist product which is supposed to satisfy the needs of different groups of consumers and stakeholders involved in its creation (local governments, investors, residents, etc.).

On the opposite side of ‘conventional’ cave tourism, there are descents to caves outside a regular tourist traffic, devoid of infrastructure, inaccessible to anyone because of the degree of difficulty of exploration and required psychophysical resilience and skills. The need for the combined mastery of rope, climbing, or diving techniques allows tourists to achieve a high degree of qualification and mastery among practitioners of various forms of qualified tourism. Such cave descents are therefore often of an exploratory or athletic/sporting nature, sometimes of a scientific nature (caves as a training ground for space research, Kambesis 2007, Bessone et al. 2023). Organised individually or in groups of enthusiasts (e.g., cavers’ associations), they elude cave tourism traffic statistics, thus remaining on the margins (in terms of description and scientific research) of the phenomenon.

Analogously to how Hose (2005) describes geotourists (casual/accidental and dedicated geotourists), depending on their level of involvement, knowledge and skills, cave tourists might be divided into two main groups: casual and dedicated cave tourists. Božić and Tomić (2015) use a distinction between general (geo)tourists and pure (geo)tourists, which also applies to cave tourists, emphasising the greater personal (emotional and intellectual) involvement of the latter, going beyond the mere pleasure of interacting with such geosites (the authors also examined how these two groups differ in terms of their attitude to selected scientific and non-scientific cave values, the presence of tourist infrastructure or tourists’ attitudes to cave protection). The community of dedicated cave tourists and people dealing with caves professionally, although insignificantly, notice the threats to the cave environment related to its exploration (not only with tourist traffic in show caves). This concerns various types of interference in the cave’s structure (opening corridors, marking passage routes) or everything related to the presence of humans in an environment where they do not occur regularly (biological impact, littering, and disturbing the peace of creatures living in caves). To optimise cave exploration and make it more sustainable, speleological organisations (international such as the International Union of Speleology as well as national ones), practitioners, and scientists try to define and implement good practices for going into caves (for tourist, exploration, and scientific purposes) and their adaptation for tourists (International Union of Speleology 2013, Tičar et al. 2018, International Union of Speleology 2022, Piano et al. 2024).

It is worth emphasising that a bipolar way of characterising tourist segments involved in practicing a selected type of tourism also appears in cultural tourism, although here the dual division of tourists (specific and general cultural tourists) is increasingly being abandoned in favour of a kind of continuum (e.g. McKercher 2002, McKercher, Du Cros 2003 – from pure cultural tourists to incidental cultural tourists). Assuming the basic division of cave tourists into two groups (those visiting show caves, adapted for tourist needs and those who go down into the ‘unknown’), it should also be assumed that these groups are not homogeneous. In terms of tourists visiting show caves, this is confirmed by numerous research, including Kim et al. (2008) or Antić et al. (2022b). The much smaller and more difficult-to-access research group of dedicated/pure cave tourists has not been studied yet in terms of its internal diversity. Professional speleologists constitute a separate group of people visiting caves. Owing to the nature of cave descents undertaken most often in connection with work (conducting scientific research) and beyond leisure, this travel should not be classified as tourism (as well as cave tourism).

Although, as indicated in the introduction, the analysed collective does not exhaust the conditions for a representative sample, the obtained results draw attention to several noteworthy issues, opening up new fields of research into cave tourism. In an era of increasingly intense commercialisation of tourism, descending into caves that are generally inaccessible to the mass tourist is undoubtedly a source of existential authenticity, related to both the attributes of the place (poorly explored, ‘virgin’ caves) and the intensity of the experience (both one’s own emotions and those of the shared experience of people descending into the dark and unknown together). In the scientific literature, the (qualified) cave community and its experiences are generally not discussed (unlike the popular science or biographical literature), unlike, for example, the community of climbers or high-altitude mountaineers (cf. Rickly-Boyd 2012, Vespestad et al. 2019).

Motivation surveys pointed to a seeming contradiction. Although exploration of the unknown was most often cited as the dominant, causal motivation for descending into caves, few respondents consider the satisfaction of being first as a benefit of engaging in this activity. Perhaps this is due to the realisation that it is difficult to be the first in a shrinking world that no longer holds many secrets. On the other hand, the ‘unknown’ for the respondents most likely does not have to be purely geographical at all. The role of the ‘unknown’ in the caves can be played by various unusual and intense emotions, mental states, and situations, forcing explorers to act unconventionally, react quickly, make difficult decisions, and prove themselves. In this context, the depleting stock of new, unexplored caves (although there is still a long way to go before it is emptied) does not pose a threat to cave tourism, since the basic attributes of caves and the conditions for their exploration remain the same.

The risks posed by cave exploration, and which arise from the peculiarities of the cave environment, seem to be tame among those descending into caves. This does not demonstrate overconfidence or even a kind of ‘arrogance’ of respondents towards caves, but the result of a kind of pre-selection – darkness, cold or other peculiarities of the underworld are not a source of fear for those who descend to caves, because they are inherent in the activity and can be expected. The human factor, apart from random events, remains the ‘weakest link’ in safe cave exploration. This belief seems to be common and it is reflected in many professional guides addressed to people going down to caves. The methods of counteracting this are included in the Caving Codes of Conduct (British Columbia Speleological Society, n.d.). The most important include (1) planning cave descents taking into account age, experience, skills, and physical condition, (2) not exceeding own abilities and acceptance for limitations, and (3) consent to the leadership of the most experienced team member and acceptance of their decisions. In the context of further research, it would be interesting to identify the factors responsible for the selection of cave descent partner(s) in the caving community. Given the nature of the activity described, cave exploration is eminently collective, although its benefits, conversely, are largely individual. The collectivity of cave exploration is emphasised by the cavers community as a necessary condition for safe descent into caves. “Cave as a team. Help each other through the cave and ensure that party members stay together. Stragglers may take the wrong route and enter vulnerable areas” – these are the words of the British Caving Association (n.d., p. 3) instructing cave enthusiasts. However, all this does not mean acquiescence to the massification of cave tourism. The need to adapt the size of the exploration group to the sensitivity of the cave environment is strongly underlined.

Although cave tourism is perceived as a highly athletic/endurance form of tourism and almost all of the caving experience involves grappling with the difficulties of this challenging environment, it seems that this aspect of it may be viewed by cave tourists more as a benefit rather than a motivational factor of the activity undertaken. The hardships experienced by the body and the beauty of the caves open the way for explorers to experience complex sensory and emotional experiences. The psychological and emotional aspects of the experiences of those going underground need further exploration.

The research may suggest that the community of cave descent practitioners has a strong sense of distinctiveness, a peculiar identity derived, on the one hand, from the high demands placed on them by the cave environment and, on the other, a community of experiences, at least some of which are liminal in nature. This thread, however, needs to be explored in further research. The studied group was not fully heterogeneous, however; among them would be both ‘cave people’, ‘cave tourists’ and ‘explorers’.

The perception that at least some of the cave descents, the most difficult ones, are activities that lie outside tourism may indicate the complex nature of cave tourism (Fig. 6), which potentially has implications for tourism as such (especially in its market dimension).

Fig. 5.

Identification of cave descents within tourist phenomena according to respondents overall, by age (A) and gender (B).

Fig. 6.

Cave tourism vs tourism.

Infrastructural and product development, and commercialisation seem to raise the tourist attractiveness of show caves in the eyes of casual cave tourists. For caves explored outside a regular tourist traffic, however, it is a threat, as it harms what constitutes their qualities – opportunities to experience existential authenticity. Consequently, from the point of view of the tourism market, are these latter caves and their group of enthusiasts lost? The answer to this question may be provided by research on the perception of the ‘difficulty’ of cave descents, serving to define the boundary beyond which cave descents cease to be tourism and become ‘something else’ (even if it means something different to everyone). In other words, it would be necessary to study what services or infrastructure, primarily in terms of providing access to caves, information, cave safety, would be desired by the caving community on the part of the tourism market, but which would not diminish the quality of the caving experience. It should be added, however, that this does not necessarily mean the massification of cave tourism, especially since worldwide cave communities strive to codify activities in caves that would be, on the one hand, ethical and, on the other hand, safe for the cave environment. The desired solutions lie more in the functional area (such as clear procedures and organisation of the cave rescue system, accessibility to emergency equipment, basic medical training, etc.) than in the infrastructure area. Caves cannot be treated as a place of competition and cave tourism is to develop sustainably (International Union of Speleology, 2013). Being traceless seems to be the underlying principle in dedicated cave tourism. This is especially important if we treat virgin caves as a non-renewable source (cf. Ganter 1998). Preserving the unique values of the caves in their most natural state is in the interest of both casual cave tourists (otherwise even show caves will resemble a city sidewalk) and dedicated cave tourists.

The studied group of people who go into non-tourist caves is heterogeneous in terms of their cave experience and the frequency with which they practise cave exploration, but quite homogeneous in terms of the basic motivations or expected benefits of undertaking the described activity.

Among the people participating in the study and assigned a priori to ‘dedicated/pure cave tourists’ based on their skills and formal qualifications, at least some do not perceive themselves as tourists. This usually has to do with the degree of difficulty of cave descents.

Cave tourism, in its specialised form, is a highly formative phenomenon – physically, emotionally, and to some extent spiritually (although not related to the cave perceived as sacrum).