Journey to the Center of the Earth: Exploring South China's incredible sinkholes

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Courtesy of Travelogue, next we follow the Pearl River into the mountains of Nan'ning. Tributaries there have literally carved out the landscape and created a unique ecosystem where exotic wildlife thrives. Tianran He brings us there.

Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, lies at a major intersection on the Pearl River system. Historically, the city has been a key center of trade in southern China, and since 2004, it has played host to the annual China-ASEAN Expo. Nanning is also celebrated as one of the greenest cities in China.

Thanks to its wet, subtropical climate, lush greenery carpets much of this part of China, while thousands of years of limestone erosion have helped to create this dramatic karst landscape.

Nestled within these mountains are villages that were once among the poorest in the country. These days, they're busy reinventing themselves as hotbeds of rural tourism and adventure sports like rock climbing.

Further to the west, in Leye County, the Pearl River's tributaries have created an even more remarkable sight: Giant sinkholes that are some of the biggest and deepest on the planet, plunging as much as 600 metres down into the Earth.

Most were formed by underground rivers and streams eating away at the limestone bedrock until the ground above collapsed. Some contain entire underground river and cave systems extending across several dozen kilometers.

Here we find virgin forests filled with exotic flora and fauna, where few if any humans have ever set foot before.

Efforts are being made to explore these giant cavities. But because of their enormous scale and the difficulty of access, many of the vast underground networks remain unmapped. Perhaps there really may be other worlds down there – right beneath our feet. Tianran He, CGTN.