“Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire upon Sedom and Gomorrah…but [Lot’s] Wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt.” –Genesis 19
Following the biblical recounting of Lot’s Wife who was turned into a pillar of salt, Israel’s Dead Sea region is now famous for a second salt phenomenon: Malham Cave, the world’s longest salt cave.
For 13 years, this title was held by Iran’s Cave of the Three Nudes (3N) on Qeshm Island. Recently, however, an international expedition led by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU)’s Cave Research Center, Israel Cave Explorers Club and Bulgaria’s Sofia Speleo Club, along with 80 cavers from nine countries, has successfully mapped the Malham salt cave in the Dead Sea’s Mount Sedom which, at 10 kilometers long, now bears the title of world’s longest salt cave.