Cuevas del Drach

Historia

The Caves of Drach are four great caves that are located in the island of Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain. They are in the municipality of Manacor, near the locality of Porto Cristo. They were first mentioned in a letter 1338. The caves extend to a depth of 25 m, reaching 2.4 km in length. The four caves, called Black Cave, White Cave, Cave of Luis Salvador, and Cave of the French, are connected to each other.
The caves have formed by water being forced through the entrance from the Mediterranean Sea, and some researchers think the formation may date back to Miocene. There is an underground lake situated in the caves called Martel Lake, which is about 115 m in length and 30 m in width, and its depth varies between four and twelve meters. It's named after the French explorer and scientist Édouard-Alfred Martel, who is considered the founding father of speleology. He was invited to explore the cave 1896. A German cave explorer, M.F. Will, had mapped the White and Black cave in 1880. Martel found two more caves, as well as the underground lake.