Caving safely
Most caves have no paths or lights. This page explains the risks, the rules and where to get training.
Caves without paths
What to know before entering a cave that has no paths or lights.
Show caves and visitor sites are a small part of what lies underground. Most caves have no paths, lights or staff. Some are short and horizontal. Many begin with a vertical shaft.
Caving is safe with training, proper equipment and companions who know the cave, and dangerous without them. The hazards are not obvious to a beginner. A dry streamway can flood in minutes after rain that fell kilometres away. A small slip far from the entrance can mean a long rescue. Cold and wet together cause hypothermia even in mild temperatures.
Africa adds some hazards of its own. Many caves are far from medical help. Some hold large bat colonies, and bat caves in East and Central Africa have been linked to cases of Marburg virus disease. Flooded sinkholes such as Chinhoyi and Boesmansgat are very deep and have killed experienced divers.
The essentials
Never alone
The usual minimum is a party of three or four, so that one person can stay with a casualty while others go for help.
Tell someone
Leave word of which cave you are entering and when you expect to be out. Agree a time at which the alarm will be raised.
Three lights each
A helmet-mounted main light and two independent back-ups. A phone torch is not a back-up light.
Watch the weather
Check the forecast for the whole catchment. Stay out of stream caves when rain is expected.
Dress for the cave
Helmet, sturdy boots, gloves and clothing that stays warm when wet. Vertical caves need rope training.
Know your limit
Turn round while everyone still has the energy to get out. The way out usually takes more effort than the way in.
Bats, guano and disease
Avoid contact with bats and their droppings. Do not enter caves with large fruit-bat colonies without checking current advice from the park authority or the national health service. In dusty, guano-rich caves a properly fitted mask reduces the risk of histoplasmosis, a fungal lung infection.
Wash your hands after a visit and tell a doctor about the cave visit if you develop a fever in the following weeks.
Permits, guides and sacred sites
Rules differ from country to country. Many caves lie inside national parks, where entry requires a ticket and often a ranger or licensed guide. Fossil sites such as those in the Cradle of Humankind are protected by law, and removing bone, stone tools or sediment is a criminal offence.
Several caves are places of worship or pilgrimage, among them Sof Omar and Amboni. Ask before entering shrines and before taking photographs of people.
Leave no trace
Do not touch
Skin oils stain calcite permanently and stop it growing. A broken stalactite does not regrow on a human timescale.
Stay on the route
Mud carried on boots dulls white flowstone permanently. Follow the marked or trodden line.
Mind the animals
Keep light and noise away from bats and other cave animals. Never handle them.
Carry everything out
This includes food scraps and spent batteries. Waste does not decompose normally underground.
Start with a guided visit
Most of the sites on this guide can be visited with a local guide.