The Coral Cave is located in the Vâlcan Mountains, in Hunedoara County, at a distance of 12 kilometers from Câmpu lui Neag. The Coral Cave can be found on the Scorotei Valley. From the short confluence of the western Jiu with the Scorota River, it climb on to the right in front of the Jiu, through an area and isolated trees that cover the slope of the Cioaca peak. The level difference is 110 m. The absolute altitude is 1000 m.
The cave was discovered in 1970 in by the members of the “Focul Viu” speleology club in Bucharest, under the Cioaca peak in the Vâlcan Mountains, and in 1972 it was declared a speleological reservation and closed to public access. The normal visit of the cave takes about an hour or so with overalls, helmet, and double light sources absolutely necessary. Visiting in larger groups of children is not recommended. The cave consists of old slope drainage, which has enlarged through dissolution of a local lithoclase. It is a unique, pulmonary gallery of 83 meters, without branches.
The cave is a linear, fossil and descending one with a length of 83 meters. The entrance is accessible in a gallery of 2–4 meters, with widths of 5–8 meters. This thing of 1 meter, meeting a point called the Altar. The floor is covered with blocks detached from the ceiling of the cave. After 50 meters, you descend or jump by 5 meters. At the base starts a coralite room with a height of 5 to 7 meters and a length of 30 meters, a portion rich in coralite, and there are many stalactites and pearl stalagmites, crusts and coralite curtains justifying the effort to reach here.
The conditions present in the cave were ideal for the development of coralites and clusterites. These may have different forms and colours, ranging from translucent white to reddish-brown. Although it was largely destroyed by visitors, the reservation still has traces of numerous concretions (clusterites, stalactites, curtains and crusts).
Despite all the protection measures taken over time, the cave was the victim of some acts of vandalism, ending by it losing some of the most valuable items. Two documentary films (1971 and 1980) were made in the cave, as well as biospeology research.
photo source: www.cnipturicani.ro