French Jewels

A remarkable concentration of world-class caves lies hidden in pockets of Palaeozoic limestone in the Montagne Noire in southern France. Notable examples include the Grotte de l’Asperge, also known as ‘the blue one’, and the Aven du Mont Marcou, known as ‘the green one’, which are internationally renowned for their colourful aragonite formations. As a member of the Spéléo-Club de Béziers, which has discovered and explored many of the area’s finest caves, I am delighted to contribute to ongoing exploration efforts as a cartographer and photographer. The variety of unusual calcite and aragonite formations in these caves is astounding! Check out my trilingual coffee-table book Inside Mother Earth for more photos.