Jeju Day 3

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I've already said that Jeju is a volcanic island. And where there are volcanoes there is lava and lava leaves behind... lava tubes. And it was to see the largest of these lava tube systems, Mang Jang cave, that I went today.

Mang Jang cave stretches about 7km in its entirety, but only 1km is open to the public. It is apparently the natural habitat of a number of endangered plant and animal species (including two kinds of bat and a salamander) hence the need to restrict human access. This is also presumably the reason why many of the other lava tubes on Jeju have been closed to the pubic.

It was a scorching hot day, so I was glad to go into the cool (and slightly damp, dripping) cave. The ground was uneven but reasonably well lit (have I said before how much I love the interaction between health and safety and common sense in Asia? Please, PLEASE Britain take note!) and the whole thing was well done.

The cave twists and turns, taking you past a number of interesting features and marks left by the lava flow, to culminate with the huge and fascinating lava column that looks like nothing so much as a finger pointing to the sky.

At which point, you turn around and walk back again.

The trek to the cave and back from Seogwipo takes a while by bus, so it was mid-afternoon by the time I got back to base. I decided to stick with tradition and seen yet another waterfall.

This time it was Jeongbang waterfall, to the East of Seogwipo, apparently the largest waterfall in Asia to fall directly into the sea. Well, I can't attest as to its size compared with other Asian falls, but I can tell you that it falls directly into the sea. Very impressively.

I had a quick walk along the coast before turning in. My final day in Seogwipo over.

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Photos

Mangjang Lava Tube
the marks on the walls are lava flowlines

Mangjang Lava Tube
Turtle Rock. This is a lava raft (lump of rock melded to the cave floor and left behind once the lava abates) said to be in the shape of Jeju Island itself

Mangjang Lava Tube
Lava toes! (the name is based, apparently, on the rocks' resemblance to elephants' toes)

Mangjang Lava Tube
Lava column