If you are short of time and only have the chance to see one cave, this has to be the one! A truly spectacular cave, Paradise Cave is a branch from the main river cavern that journeys through the Vom Cave System. The cave is 31km long in total and reaches a height of 100m and width of 150m in places.
Paradise Cave
Visitors can walk into the first 1km of the cave which has been set up as a show cave with a boardwalk and lights that highlight the truly huge dimensions of the cave and the amazing sculptures formed by the stalagmites and stalactites. You can do this through the guided 1 day Discovery National Park Tour, the 1 day Jungle Boss National Park Tour or by taking yourself there and paying the entrance fee on arrival. View or download our free map for directions.
If you are interested in continuing past the first 1km that anyone can visit, another option is the guided 7km Paradise Cave Tour. This tour takes you another 6km further into the darkness with just a headlamp to the underground river and a huge doline where the roof has collapsed allowing sunbeams to fall down over 200m into the cave and around you. This tour is understandably more expensive than the National Park Tour but is more exclusive and certainly mindblowing. This is a great trip for a hot summer day, as you spend most of the day in the coolness of the underground.
Paradise Cave was opened to tourists in 2010. It opened on Christmas Eve 2010 and only received its first paying guests two days later on Boxing Day, simply because no one knew it was there! It was discovered from the inside in 2005 by a team of British cavers who had first explored the cave system back in 1994. They were following the river when they saw a separate side channel where a doline was lighting up the river. They headed towards it and it led to the entrance that is now the tourist entrance. There is a steep incline to this entrance, but it was the most decent way to enter the cave due to the valley wearing away at the entrance. Stairs have now been built, as well as a ramp. Golf buggies are provided at a small additional cost, to reduce walking distance for tourists to get to the cave entrance.
