Desert Cave Hotel is one of the hotels in Coober Pedy, South Australia. The hotel has stood in a city 846 km north of Adelaide since 1988. The uniqueness of the city is not only the residence of its citizen’s lives underground but also the hotels itself which are Desert Cave Hotel.
Desert Cave Hotel is the first underground hotel in Coober Pedy. The town itself is a very small town, located in the middle of Adelaide and Alice Springs. On the surface, Coober Pedy looks quite enveloped in the desert. But who would have thought, there are 3,500 people living there and 60% of its citizens live below the surface. They live in a house dug in the ground like a cave.
Since 1915 Coober Pedy is synonymous with the mining of rare opal stones found in a vast, deserted interior area. Many of the city’s local residents live in excavated pits where the earth gives them a more controlled natural temperature. The visitors who come to this city are always amazed by the underground life of the local people.
At first, people who flocked to come to mine ancient rocks found the fact that living on the surface of the city is quite difficult because the temperature is very hot. In the dry season, the temperature there often reaches more than 40 degrees C or about 104 degrees F. That’s why they decided to stay below the surface of the earth.
The uniqueness of the city inspired a citizen, Umberto Coro. In 1981, he began to realize his dream of building an underground hotel to share his extraordinary experience undergoing underground life with the city’s visitors. He has been in the city’s excavation and hospitality industry for over 26 years.
Unfortunately, Umberto Coro died in a road accident in 1986 before his dream had materialized. The construction of his dream hotel was eventually passed on to his son and his remaining family to make sure that the hotel actually stood up and was officially opened in 1988.
In the construction process, opal stone miners were taken from the opal fields to sculpt sandstone on the hillside near the main road. Extreme heat temperatures, severe dust storms, and mini-hurricanes make this hotel’s workmanship extremely difficult. Almost all building materials are transported from Adelaide hundreds of kilometers away from the town of Coober Pedy.
The stone material used is a local stone collected from Moon Plain, 25 km north of the city. Every visitor who comes feels amazed by the beauty of the walls in this underground hotel. Fitted furniture is selected items to reflect the light and color of the hallway.
The hotel rooms are decorated with original rocks and colors so that the unique culture of inland is non-existent. In addition, the hotel also features a bar, game room and convention facilities located in a large underground hall. All the facilities you can enjoy in a cool environment. This hotel can be included in the environmentally friendly category because the basement naturally regulates the room temperature thus reducing the use of air conditioner (AC).
Clean air can still be enjoyed without the need to sacrifice the earth through the use of air conditioning that can adversely affect the environment. By reducing the use of air conditioning at home, you have contributed to the earth-saving mission. Similar to what the Desert Cave Hotel does.
