Cave Stamps, Underground Spaces, Caving, Speleology, Caves

South Africa
Tourism - Cango Caves
September 6, 2001
The Cango Caves are located at the foothills of the Swartberg range near the town of Oudtshoorn. The principal cave is one of the country's finest, best known, and most popular tourist caves. Clusters of stalagmites and stalactites adorn the cathedrals and chambers.

New Zealand
Scenery - Waitomo Limestone Caves
March 27, 1996
The Waitomo Caves is a limestone cave system forming a major tourist attraction in the northern King Country region of the North Island. They are noted for their stalactite and stalagmite displays and for the presence of glowworms Arachnocampa luminosa, a species of fungus gnat endemic to New Zealand.

Mexico 2015 Cave paintings in the San Francisco Mountains of South Baja California.

Macedonia
Natural Beauties - Vrelo Cave
June 5, 2009
Vrelo Cave is one of the 10 caves at Matka Canyon located west of Skopje, Macedonia. The stamp design shows a large stalactites called "Pine Cone" in the middle of the Vrelo Cave.

Barbados 2013 Harrison's Cave.

Bosnia and Herzegovina BH Post
Tourism - Protected Landscapes
July 31, 2014
The Bijambare Caves are located on the far north-eastern slopes of Ilijaš, a small town near Sarajevo. The main cave is of considerable magnitude with four huge halls stretching up to 60 m in the diameter and to over 30 m in height. One of the halls is called the concert-hall due to its impressive size. The cave is rich with stalactites, stalagmites, curtains, basins and other forms of carbonate rocks. It is presently inhabited by colony of bats and crickets.

Czech Republic
Tourism
May 7, 2003
The Moravian Karst is a karst landscape and protected nature reserve 92 square kilometers in area near the town of Blansko. The stamp features Punkva Caves which is one of the five cave systems opened for public tours and exploration. The design shows a underground river with stalactites, stalagmites and a large column.

South Korea
World Tourism Day
September 28, 1975
Gossigul Cave located in Yeongwol-gun, Gangwon-do Province is a limestone cave almost 3 km long. Inside the cave, there are stalactites, stalagmites, four lakes, three falls, six plazas (open spaces) that have been formed over the past 400 million years. Gossigul Cave is designated and conserved as a natural monument.

Lebanon
Definitive Issue
March 16, 1955
The Jeita Grotto is a system of two separate but interconnected karstic limestone caves spanning an overall length of nearly 9km. The caves are situated in the Nahr al-Kalb valley, 18 km north of Beirut. The lower cave can only be visited by boat since it channels an underground river. The upper galleries are composed of a series of chambers as high as 120 m and house the world's largest known stalactite.
(engraver: Paul Koroleff)

Japan
Akiyoshidai Kokutei Quasi-National Park
March 16, 1959
Akiyoshidai Kokutei is located in Yamaguchi Prefecture. It includes part of the Akiyoshi plateau, a 130 square kilometers area of karst topography. There are over 400 limestone caves in the area. Akiyoshidô Cave, with a passage of over 8 kilometers, is the longest cave in Japan. The Stalactite columns are as high as 30 meters.

Botswana
Tourism - Natural Places
March 27, 2003
The Gcwihaba Caves are located in Kalahari Desert, 50 km east of the Aha Hills in northwest Botswana. The Gcwihaba Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, have a diversity of cave formations found within the six cave systems which display an exceptional natural beauty comprising massive stalactites and stalagmites as well as dripstones and columns/pillars.

Thailand
Unseen Thailand III
September 28, 2004
Le Khao Kop Cave is one of the caves on the Hin Thaen Creek in Trang Province. The stalagmites and stalactites can only be visited by boat along the underground river.

Here is an image of a priority mail stamp depicting La Cueva del Indio ("Cave of the Indian"), near Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, designed by Greg Breeding after original artwork by Dan Cosgrove, printed by lithography (Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.), and issued by the USA on January 17, 2016, plus a photo of the cave from the "reverse angle." Note: This cave gets its name from the great number of prehistoric engravings, known as petroglyphs, found on its walls.

- nethryk

Venezuela
Tourism
March 22, 1960
Guácharo is the longest, largest and most visited cave in Venezuela. It is the centerpiece of the Guácharo Cave National Park which is located 12 km from the city of Caripe. The cave is a limestone cavern over 10 km long, with a number of large chambers and spectacular rock formations. Fruit-eating oilbirds live within the first section of the cave.

Here are images of two stamps depicting the grotto at Massabielle, Lourdes, respectively: without and with the Virgin of Lourdes, a statue by French sculptor Joseph-Hugues Fabisch (1812-1886), and an altar, designed by French artist Pierre-Paul Jouve (1878-1973), engraved by Charles Mazelin (1882-1964), and issued by Monaco on May 15, 1958 among the thirteen stamps in a set commemorating the centenary of the apparition of the Virgin Mary to the shepherdess Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes, Scott Nos. 417 & 418, plus a photo of the grotto.

- nethryk