Chatyr-Dag mountain-mass

Karst craters on Chatyr-Dag reach here and there 250 metres in diameter and 50-60 metres deep. Caves, mines and deep wells formed inside that lime thickness. There are 137 cavities known on Chatyr-Dag. Among them there are such caves - natural monuents: Ayanskaya (550/20m) located near bid spring of the same name; famous Binbash-Koba cave (Thousand-headed or Colonel-, 110m) in which human bones were found that served as basis for ancient legends; Emine-Bair-Khosar (146/185m) with rich accumulative shapes and intricate extention of underground passages; Suuk-Koba (Cold, 210/43m) in which there is an underground bath where in 1893 the first analysis of karst waters was fulfilled; mines: Obvalnaya (110/59m) in which the remains of ice-age fauna were discovered; Gugerjin (60/20m) with beautiful ice crystals on the walls.

Suuk-Koba ( Cold) and Binbash-Koba (Thousand-headed) caves are the most wellknown and frequented karst cavities on Chatyr-Dag plateau.

Suuk-Koba cave represents the tunnel-like cavity 210 metres long. It has 7 large halls under 20m of height and wide. Binbash-Koba is somewhat shorter - 110 metres. In 1886 E.Markov described it in such a way: "The human skulls... are poured on the floor... as horrible heap. They are lying without account and neglected like water-melons at Russian market".

Perhaps it was burial-vault, sepulchre where the dead were burried or perhaps peaceful inhabitants escaping from enemies were killed there. There are several legends dedicated to that cave.

Public rumour calculates thousand of the dead, that is why the cave is named Thousand-headed.

For many millenniums stalactites, stalagmites, beautiful draperies and other forms of accumulative formations appeared in underground mazes of Chatyr-Dag caves and mines.

It is very dangerous to go down into the karst caves ang mines without special training as some of them are very deep and insidious.

In 1987 Simferopol speciologists discovered new big underground cavity ornamented with splendid accumulative formations (Mramornaya cave). Now Mramornaya cave is well organized and electrified, and arranged excursions from Simferopol are lead there.

Not only well expressed karstidy is typical for Chatyr-Dag mountain pasture as forest sectors remained on its significant area. On the low plateau there are predominantely beech groves in which hornbeam, asp, mountain ash, pear-tree, yew-tree also grow. Green cushions of juniper pressed to pasture and reaching 5m in diameter are seen in many places. Chatyr-Dag flora is very rich: on its area there are 520 linds of plants, among them such rare as berry yew-tree (noted down into the Red Book), Chatyr-Dag rose, dream-grass, endemic buttercups, thymes, genistas, sunflowers.