Cango Caves

The Cango system runs several kilometres into the Swartberg foothills, though only the first section is open. Van Zyl's Hall, the first chamber, is enormous - about a hundred metres long with a ceiling far overhead - and the formations through the accessible chambers include heavy flowstone, columns and the Cleopatra's Needle stalagmite, given an age in the region of 150,000 years. Two tours run: the standard hour on level walkways, and the adventure tour that continues into the narrow parts, through the Tunnel of Love, the Devil's Chimney and the Post Box, squeezes tight enough that the ticket office warns off anyone above a certain chest measurement. Human occupation of the entrance goes back thousands of years. The caves have had conservation problems from breath, heat and lighting, so photography rules, group sizes and lit sections are controlled more tightly than they once were.

History

Cave paintings and artefacts show the caves were used in the Middle and Later Stone Ages. The farmer Jacobus Van Zyl rediscovered them in 1780 and was lowered into the first chamber, now named after him, a second chamber was found in 1792 and Dr Andrew Smith visited in 1829; the archaeologist A.J.H. Goodwin made a test excavation here in 1930 (Wikipedia, Cango Caves).

What's there

• Van Zyl's Hall - the huge first chamber about a hundred metres long.
• The adventure squeezes - the Devil's Chimney and Post Box, genuinely tight passages.
• Cleopatra's Needle - a stalagmite with an age given around 150,000 years.
• The conservation limits - controlled group sizes and lighting after damage from visitors.

When to go

All year - the cave holds a steady temperature. Two hours. Book the adventure tour ahead in holidays.

Before you go

Guided tours only, on a fixed schedule, and the caves get crowded in season. The adventure route is not for anyone claustrophobic or above the stated size, and people do get stuck. It is humid and warm inside. Photography is restricted in places.

Nearby

Oudtshoorn and its ostrich farms are south; the Swartberg Pass is north-west.

Key facts