Jocks cave.
John found the cave with very little effort although Selena and I
thought it was a lot further down the cutting. The
entrance is a pretty steep decent low and through thick sand and tree
roots. The sand fleas I remembered from the last trip were less
evident. Though Karin found them replaced by spiders. The passages to
where the Pretties were are pretty big with not to much crawling. I did
not make it through the short passage out the "flag" chamber despite
lots of encouragement from Karin. I am sure John or Selena would have
talked me through but they were long gone by the time I got there.
Amazing how caving is such a head sport. I did then manage to spend some
time exploring the flag chamber while waiting for the rest to rejoin
me. We either didn't find the "straw" chamber or because the cave was so
much drier I just remembered it differently. On the return of the group
they were all complaining of plenty CO2 so was somewhat glad I had not
pushed through. John found a different and much shorter route out with
some nasty sharp bedding rock to crawl over. While waiting our turn
through the passage, Steven found a really impressive section with
stunning water pools so clear the water looked green. Karin was
especially excited about that. The trip back to the bottom of the exit
slope went very quickly, however the crawl back up was more difficult
with three steps forward and one back. Although the spiders helped with
motivation. Once down at the landy we realized we had kitted up at camp,
and our overalls were extremely dirty, so had to ride home in our
underwear.
The party around the supper table reflected how much fun we all had, as
spirits were high and cave discussion was animated. The prospect of
another exciting day caving lay ahead.
Serunecjar
The plan for the next 2 days were to be spent at Serunecjar as Steven had plans to survey the cave.
John took us for a short sightseeing trip through the small village
eventually parking outside the "queens" house. With permission granted
and the refusal of beer and a request for a coke we spent an hour or so
thrashing around looking for the entrance. With a little help from a
local, Selena and Karin found the entrance. It's more in line with the
river, with an obvious cow path to follow, well once you find it that
is. The large prickly pear and tree at the entrance should remind us
next time. Steven and Irene remained in the upper chamber to survey
while the rest of us followed John to find the rest of the cave. With no
survey and a 5+ year gap between this trip and his last trip, memories
were a bit fuzzy. The section we were in did not look at all familiar
with lots of climbing and some big drops. John managed to get up a very
slippery slope, but after Pedro took a scary slide it was decided to
head back to camp for extra equipment. Taking a slightly different route
we poped back into the chamber Steven was still busy in and a right
turn had us at a different entrance with an easy route into Dragon
chamber. After a bit of scouting, John found the route into the rest of
the cave but it was confirmed ladders and rope would be needed for the
slippery climbs back out. Leaving Steven and Irene to survey duties, the
rest of us headed back down the hill and back to camp. I took a rather
nasty tumble on the mountain and decided to stay at camp.
When the group returned Selena insisted that I should put on my big girl
panties, drag Leon along as the section they got into was way to
beautiful to miss.
Selena cooked us a fantastic supper. Leon and I put up a bat net and
were lucky enough to catch 3 species of bats, and had the opportunity to
educate the owners, who hopefully will now live with the bats and not
play tennis with them. With the group a lot more subdued and the
prospect of some great caving the next day it was an early night for
all.
Serunecjar is by far one of the most beautiful caves in the area.
Unfortunately a lot drier than 8 years ago - my last visit - there were 2
things I remembered about the cave. The miner helmet & bones
covered in flow stone and the low chamber with lots of mud, pools and
lots and lots of spiders, I found neither of these, either not looking
properly or just because I remember it differently.
John had rigged 2 drops with ladders and 2 with rope that helped with
both the decent and more importantly the ascent. Pedro's hand jammer
also proved a life saver for me on the one muddy slope.
Back in the dragon chamber, John and Selena rigged a ladder and rope
down a steep muddy slope but nothing terribly exciting was found. Leon
and John confirmed the spiders in the dragon chamber were sack spiders
.. nasty!!
Fortunately Steven did not complete the survey so a return trip soon is in order.
Bats in Serunecjar
On day one we found a few bats flying around and though we could not get
close their inquisitive behavior and wing shape led me to believe they
were horseshoe bats. Until we entered Dragon chamber I was rather
disappointed in the number of bats and bat guano. However evidence in
Dragon chamber suggested huge numbers recently in the chamber. I was
very disappointed I had missed them assuming they had left for winter.
Day 2 and the trip into the next chamber revealed the bats had not left.
Just moved further into the cave. There is a huge colony of Natal long
fingered bats in the cave, so a winter trip would be strongly
discouraged. With the huge development of fruit farms in the area this
colony will become vitally important and I sincerely hope that winter
trips will be avoided.
