VORONYA CAVES

Voronya Cave stands as the closest point to the Earth's center, a notion reminiscent of Jules Verne's 1864 novel, "Journey to the Center of the Earth." While it doesn't lead to the profound depths envisioned by Verne, Veryovkina Cave offers access to the nearest known point to the planet's core.
With a staggering depth of approximately 2212 meters, Veryovkina Cave holds the title of the world's deepest cave. Nestled in the pass between the Krepost and Zont mountains in the Abkhazia region, officially declared part of Georgia, the cave's discovery dates back to 1968 when speleologists from Krasnoyarsk reached a depth of 115 meters.
In 1986, a Moscow-led group, headed by Oleg Parfenov, achieved an impressive depth of 440 meters. Subsequent explorations by the Perovo-Speleo group since 2015 consistently pushed the cave's depth boundaries, culminating in a record 2212 meters in March 2018. These expeditions also unveiled an expansive underground tunnel system spanning over 6000 meters.