(Source: http://interkavkaz.info/572-peschera-nezhnaya.html)

Nezhnaya (“Tender”) Cave is situated at the eastern edge of the Azish-Tau Ridge of Lago-Naki plateau, at an altitude of 1400 meters above sea level, between the source of the river Chinarka (Mezmai) and a rock wall encircling the ridge from the east. The unusual name refers to the tender age of the cave’s vaults and the fragility of “young” stalactites and stalagmites.

It’s cold inside the cave, you need to take a at least warm jacket, if not a coat. You should be very careful when walking through the cave - the floor is slippery, you’d better not grasp anything with your hands. Just do not forget that stalactites and stalagmites grow at a rate of 1 cm per century. Just pointing to a stone with your finger, you take off it a layer that has been growing for about 10 years.

Breathing and camera flickers also change the microclimate of the cave, although such changes need a longer term. You can recall the example of Kapova Cave in the Bashkir Reserve “Shulgan-Tash” which is famous for paintings of ancient people preserved on its walls.

Several decades after tourists started to visit the cave its climate began to change. It became warmer by only one or two degrees, but it was enough to cause the most valuable paintings to crumble. So it was necessary to close those for public visits and hang their copies in the first hall of the cave. Taking photographs or touching the stalactites is not yet prohibited in the caves of Lago-Naki - apparently everyone understands that prohibition won’t help. Then it is all the more necessary to be conscious and just watch - enjoy the beauty, not contributing to its destruction. An eye can see more than a lens, and the pictures taken will still be bad without any special professional equipment – there’s too little light.