All about South Africa's cango caves in oudtshoorn. The Cango Caves: one of the great natural wonders of the world. Find out more about this spectacular cave system.
As one enters the cave, it feels as though the caves are trying to swallow you, making you part of the splendid formations on display. Some people experience claustrophobia as they venture deeper into the caves.
It's only when your eyes adjust to the carefully place artificial lighting and start to take in the treasures surrounding you, that you forget your own existence and marvel in what must be one of the great natural wonders of our world. You cannot but help think about the people who first discovered the wonders of these caves - how enchanted they must have been to have stumbled upon God's secret treasure chest.
Many years ago, in prehistoric time, bushmen known as the San, had lived in the front caves - they slept, cooked and painted pictures of themselves hunting animals on the walls of the caves. Some of these paintings are still preserved for the world to see. Ancient man could not proceed too far into the cave because of the absence of light - natural or artificial.
How the Cango Caves were discovered:
In 1780 a young herdsman was following a wounded buck and discovered the caves. His employer, Mr van Zyl explored the caves and discovered the first big cave, or chamber as they are called, and which was eventually named after him: van Zyl's Hall. Their handheld torches showed the glory of the chamber - shining hanging columns (called stalactites) from the roof of the cave; stalagmites - columns growing upwards from the floor of the cave; and helictites, growing from all directions. The explorers saw a magnificent stalagmite, shimmering and glowing in splendour, 9 metres high, which in later years would become known as Cleopatra's Needle.
As the years rolled on, more chambers were discovered and each chamber was given a name - either named after its discoverer, or given a name to describe the immediate impression the explorers got when entering the chamber. The chambers have names like Catacombs, Bridal Chamber, Picture Gallery and Devil's Workshop.
The first series of caves are easily accessible, but the caves become more difficult to negotiate the deeper you proceed. Additional chambers were discovered in 1956 and in the 1970s- each discovery more breathtaking than what was seen before. In the latter part of the twentieth century, additional caves were discovered, but have been closed to the public - in the interest of preservation of the caves - it is feared that too many people venturing so far into the cave system can somehow damage the interior.
Some parts of the cave are clay-like and although visitors are asked not to scratch away at the walls, some still do this. Besides scratching and pawing away at the clay, cigarettes are harmful - the smoke deposits nicotine over the lime and litter attracts bacteria which can all lead to the rock formations being discoloured. Some vandals have even snapped off tender columns of stalactites and stalagmites.
How it all happened:
The limestone cave had a weakness, a fault of about 90 metres wide in places. To rectify the fault, Nature used calcite to seal the weakness. Water soaked through and eroded the chambers, causing chambers to be formed.
Whenever it rained, raindrops would drip through the openings. As the raindrops dropped onto the floor of the caves, the water mixed with the carbon dioxide of the plants in the top soil, and as this water passed through the calcite, the water contained calcium carbonate.
This "transformed" water dripped through the roof of the caves below, and because of the absence of plant life and therefor the absence of carbon dioxide, the water turned into air; the calcium carbonate however, could not be transformed into air and solidified and over hundreds of thousands of years, this is how the breathtaking dripstone formations were created, and why it is necessary to conserve the far interiors of the caves from the destructiveness of man.
