The Belum Caves have long passages, galleries, spacious caverns with fresh water and siphons.

This cave system was formed over the course of tens of thousands of years by the constant flow of underground water from the now-disappeared river Chitravathi.

[2] Belum came to scientific attention in 1884 by a British surveyor, Robert Bruce Foote and from 1982 to 1984, a team of German speleologists headed by H. Daniel Gebauer conducted a detailed exploration of the caves.

[4] Even though the Belum Caves were known to local people, the first records of site come from the expedition report of British geologist and archaeologist Robert Bruce Foote, in 1884.

The organism is named Andhracoides gebaueri in honor of Herbert Daniel Gebauer who documented and mapped the complete cave.

Local people of nearby settlements, notably policemen and residents of Belum Village co-operated with the Government of Andhra Pradesh and developed the cave site as a tourist attraction.

Finally, their almost two-decade long efforts resulted in the Government of Andhra Pradesh declaring the entire area to be a protected zone.

Finally, in 1999, the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) took over the task of beautifying and maintaining the caves.

[6] The APTDC has also developed the pathways of around 2 km (1.2 mi) length in and outside of the caves, provided illumination and has created fresh-air-shafts at the site.

Inside the cave, APTDC has installed bridges and staircases, and a canteen, bathrooms and toilet facilities at the entry point.

There are daily or weekly trains from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Tirupati, Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram, Coimbatore and Goa which halt at Tadipatri railway station.

Frequently available buses, which ply between Tadipatri and Banaganapalli of Nandyala district, drop you at Belum caves.