Suurberg Lunch Cave

Length: 55m | Grade: 5D | Surveyed: 1996-12-04

Anthony Hitchcock and Peter Swart, 12 December 1998

Christo Swart first described this cave in the SASA bulletin. (Swart, C. 1962). We found a slot, with a number of openings to the sky, leading to a 3.5m drop, onto a debris-covered floor. Three passages lead off from the bottom of this drop. The first passage leads under the entrance slot, before doubling back, and heading west. After a few metres, the passage becomes too narrow to explore further.

The second passage, to the southeast, leads to a sandy-floored chamber, approximately 10m long by 3m wide by 2m high. At the eastern end of the chamber, the walls degenerate into rubble, and light can be seen though the boulder-choke. This chamber is full of spiders and insects, and there are a number of large bones on the floor, indicating that scavengers (probably porcupines) probably use this chamber as a dining hall.

The third passage leads to a narrow slot, which descends to a lower chamber. This chamber is approximately 10m long by 5m wide. The southern side of this chamber is also formed by boulder collapse, and light can be seen though the boulder-choke. This part of the cave is full of insects. Although there were signs of bats having been in the cave, the guano was not fresh, and no bats were seen. All of the passages were formed along joints in the bedding plane. These cracks formed as the horizontal plates bent down towards the river valley.