Thursday, December 23, 2010

Drotsky’s Cave




I’ll start with a little history of this

amazing place. In the !Kung San language, bushmen named the cave ‘Gcwihaba’ which means ‘hyena’s hole’. It was

a San secret until 1932 when

Martinus Drotsky, a nearby farmer was shown the cave. Of course, he na

med it after himself and 2 ye

ars later it became a nation

al monument. It has legends of treasure as well as witchcraft which is why it is such a mysterious yet intriguing place.

Katie, John and I were the brains behind a caving trip. To our surprise, we found 4 other interested volunteers, so the trip was made final. We took public transport to the north western corner of Botswana and met with some people who offered us a reasonable price for transport out to the caves. The cave is a good 120K from the nearest paved road and even further from medical help. In the guide book, it recommended a fully equipped 4WD, preferably one with high clearance, long-range petrol tanks, water reserves and a GPS system. We headed out with all the water we could carry in a regular SUV. We were prepared but knowing that only 1-2 cars visit the cave a week made us a little more careful. The drive alone was an adventure. We nearly got stuck several times and saw bat-eared fox, gemsbok as well as experienced the occasional engine overheating. During these times we g

ot out, we stretched our legs and let the thermostat reset itself. The road was so ruff, at times the backseat passenger wor

e his bike helmet to keep his had from smacking the ceiling. A

fter what seemed an endless sand snake of a road, we pulled into the designated monument area. Our headlights picked up some well marked signs.

The next step was to find some tent pads to make camp on. Not a soul was around for hundreds of kilometers. It was a little uneasy but that just added to the experience. Our hungry bunch settled down for some walking tacos for dinner. (All the regular taco fixings mixed into a bag of choice flavor chips and eaten with a spoon…Yum) After some time we found one of the cave entrances and decided to get our tents pitched. The boys, being boys, decided to enter the cave as soon as camp was s

et. I figured, daylight or nighttime, the cave is dark inside so we might as well get familiar with it before tomorrow.

My plan was to spend 30 min to 1hr max exploring and then I’d come out and get some sleep. The entrance was one of the most difficult, tactical parts of our whole exploration. As we approached the entrance I could hear things whooshing by my head. The closer we got, the better I understood the noise to be the thousands of Commerson’s leaf-nosed bats (with a wingspan of up to 60cm/23in.) that exit the caves every night to feed on insects. If you are clam and slow they never even get close to you. Having poor vision but exquisite eco-location, they have no trouble avoiding objects and maneuvering in the pitch black of the c

aves interior. Once inside, the bat traffic was low and the cave opened up into some huge caverns and chambers. We explored for an hour, trying most of the time to find our bearings. We found our later that the 2 ½ hours we spent in the first ¼ of the cave was actually the other end of the map we were looking at. I’m glad we found that out the night before our team of 7 went in. As we exited the warmth of the cave into the coolness of the night, I spotted a coiled Puff Adder snake. One of Botswana’s most poisonous snakes, the Puff Adder was fat and coiled for attack just outside the entrance. We steered clear and took some photos. Close one! With this short preliminary visit, I felt more comfortable and had a better understanding of the vastness of this cave.

Katie and I have been caving many times before, but Gcwihaba cave was by far the biggest, longest and least used cave we had been in. Explorers of this cave were so rare that there weren’t even foot prints. We slept soundly that night but anticipated the dawn. Shortly after breakfast our team was ready to enter the depths of the Botswana earth. Half the group had never been caving before so I was excited to see how they liked the experience.

Now that we knew where we were on the inadequate map, it made the adventure more enjoyable. Our plan was to stick to the right side always and eventually we would come to the other end. The stalagmites and stalactites were amazing. They were so pure and unadulterated by vandalism and over-exploration. There was even some glorious ‘flowstones’ which look like waterfalls of rock. Some of the caverns were 10m high and over a hundred meters long. Some passages were so narrow that we had to squeeze through them and on the other side they would open up to giant chambers.

I’ll just mention a few of the unique cave features in this particular cave. I love how each caving experience is different. I was actually amazed how dry this cave was compared to those I’ve explored in the states. The floor was covered in the finest dust and in some areas the bat droppings must have been several meters thick.

The map we had was labeled with chambers and passages like: Ice Castle, Graceland, Gas Chamber, MOAB (mother of all bat) Chamber, Rope Pit, Sonar, and the Enchanted Forest. Our first true challenge came when we stood at the entrance of the Gas Chamber. Bats were poring out like pepper from its shaker. We couldn’t muster the courage to crawl through the exiting bats and squeeze through the small entrance to see what the chamber held. It was early in our trip and we needed to build our confidence. The next obstacle/potential hazard was a hole that went straight down 12’ into an unknown passage. I went in first and all but one of us followed. We were entering the MOAB, but first we had to crawl hands and knees down past numerous bats hanging inches from our backs and helmets, not to mention crawling over dead bat bodies. Adrenalin rush for sure. On the other side of the crawl, it opened up into an enormous spiraling ceiling that held bats on every imaginable surface. Our group stood in aw as we watched the bats flying around us, the heat was almost unbearable with all those tinny bodies putting off heat. We all turned off our lights and listened to the acrobatics around us. It was absolute blackness. We flipped our lights back on and climbed our way out.

At one point Katie lead the charge into a potential passage that would decide which way the group went. Her portrayal:

I’m a fan of adventure but this was a little much for me. Like Lucas said, the cave was very dry. Since there were two entrances, loads of sand gets blown in and settles on the cave floor. The hole I crawled down was so slim, at least two sides of the cave were touching me at once. It was so narrow and dark; there was no way to see where I was going. I literally fell into the next chamber twice. So much sand came falling on me; I had a hard time breathing. The passage just kept getting narrower. It was quite terrifying. I’m ashamed to say I punked out and crawled back out.

When it was deemed impassable, we went up and over. This passage was the Rope Pit. For good reason too, because it would have been much easier with ropes. This was the first time we had to do actual rock climbing. Everyone made it down the 15 foot drop and up the other side with no problems. We felt like the fist explorers of this cave our entire time. Most state side caves are so used that if you look close you can tell which way to go by how smooth the rocks are from people traversing them.

On our way out we entered the Enchanted Forest. This place was magical. That’s the only way to explain it. It was no less than 30 rock towers where stalactites had reached their opposing force, the stalagmite. It was truly like a stone forest; so beautiful and forever in our memories.

We spent over 3 hours down in the cave and once we exited, it only took us 20 min to walk around to our car. Caves are so interesting.

The Storm


After a lovely Thanksgiving weekend/ GRE testing/ Katie’s birthday celebration, we returned to a broken Salajwe. There had been a disastrous thunderstorm while we were gone. Roofs were blown off of homes, glass windows were blown in, trees up-rooted, and paths flooded. The incredible power of blown sand destroyed our gardens. We even found a 50 gallon metal drum barrel inside our fenced-in yard. The Botswana Defense Force (BDF) arrived to provide tents for those whose houses were damaged. A building team from Letlhakeng arrived the next week to repair damage to the clinic and primary school. I spoke with a man who has a farm. He said the hail was piled up on the side of his hut and the storm had managed to kill some goats.

Thankfully, there were no reports at the clinic of serious injuries. We’re kinda disappointed we missed such an event.

Thanks Again!!

Brysons and Rosses

We were bombarded with six (6) boxes at the post office. These boxes covered Thanksgiving, Katie’s birthday, and Christmas from parents and sister/brother-in-law. Mom, you paid more attention than I thought when I told you we don’t get to have much meat in our diet. We have like 12 Hormel amazing dishes, meat included. We cant microwave but there is a boiling option! Thanks to all of you for the instant mash potatoes, cheesecakes, and candy. Amy, smores is always a safe bet. Mom, even though we are in a constant state of perspiration, we are getting into the Christmas spirit with all the decorations. We broke out our baby tree and stockings from last year. We have all the Christmas cookie goodies in a box ready to party in a few weeks. Amy, your pickles and candles are amazing. We have no sense of self control. If the candles make it to Valentine’s Day I’ll be surprised. They smell great! And we very much appreciate the Operation Christmas Child donation. I’m loving the CD and Lucas appreciates his flashdrive. It was the same size as the one stolen out of his bag. We have so many great camping food (trail mix, just-add-water meals, dried fruit, bagged tuna/salmon) that we’re set for Lesotho hiking trip.
I hope you guys get as much enjoyment putting the care packages together as we do receiving them. You guys are the best, we couldn’t ask for a more generous family. We love you and cant wait to be back home next year.