Chimanimani & meetlist for 2018

Hello everyone,

We are planning a trip to the Chimanimani mountains in Zimbabwe at the end of September 2018.

The first priority is to explore the newly discovered Tartarus Cave. A huge sinkhole entrance only briefly explored with no end in sight!

There are also many unexplored surface fissures and various boulder chokes deep underground which need to be pushed.
Lastly, there is an easy to open blowing hole at the bottom of Mawenge Mwena, the deepest cave in Southern Africa. Could this blowing hole lead down another 300 meters to the resurgances?

There is plenty of planning needed for this expedition, so even though it is months away, please let me know if you are interested.

For the rest of 2017 and first half of 2018:

A trip is done once a month on the second Sunday of the month. Extra trips are done on an ad-hoc basis and a few long-weekend trips to other provinces and countries are also organized throughout the year.
There will also be rescue practises every second month. 

• 10 December – Stinkhole – Steven Tucker
• 14 January  - Wonderfontein - John Dickie
• 11 February - Nico's II - Steven Tucker
• 11 March - Hidden Cave - Karin Human
• 21 March - Gobholo Cave in Swaziland - John Dickie
• 8 April - Chaos Cave - John Dickie
• 13 May - Nick's Cave
• 10th June - Dripkelder Cave
• 24 September - Chimanimani in Zimbabwe - John Dickie & Steven Tucker

Please note: These are proposed dates – final details will be sent out closer to the time. Caving trips additional to those above will also be notified via these avenues.

Contact the Meet leader to arrange to join a trip or find out more info on a trip.

Looking forward to a great year of exploration!

Steven Tucker
083 212 0817

Chimanimani 2017

Hello everyone,

We are considering a return expedition to the caves in Chimanimani in Zimbabwe around the middle of October 2017. This is still within the their dry months and should be plenty warmer than August last year!

The main focus will be to explore the newly discovered and only briefly explored Tartarus Cave. Depening on how that goes, other options will be to push question marks in known caves such as Bounding Pot, Black Crystal Abyss and Mawenge Mwena. Then of course, for those who want some time on the surface, there are plenty of potential areas to explore to find new caves!

The current idea is to leave early on Saturday the 14th, arrive that evening in Chimanimani, hike up to the camp site on the 15th. Then spend five days on the mountain and hike down on the 21st and drive back the 22nd.

This is very flexible and if there is interest some can stay longer. 

Costs are estimated at around R10,000 per person, depending on numbers and final dates etc.

If you are at all interested in going, perhaps even as a hiker, please let myself (083 212 0817) or John Dickie (073 985 8068) know.

Cheers,

Steven