Region: Otter Trail

Otter Trail Caves

Guano Cave

The Guano Cave on the first day of the Otter Trail is familiar to hikers
in the area, but as far as we could tell, had never been surveyed. The
entrance to the cave is very impressive, as it is nearly 10m wide, and
12m high. The passage is an almost straight line formed by the removal
of a shale band between two sandstone beds. Remnants of the shale can be
seen in the ceiling along most of the length of the cave. One especially
large piece of shale can be seen hanging from the ceiling towards the
back of the cave.

The passage narrows rapidly, but continues into the mountain for about
130m. Right at the end of the cave, seepage water has mixed with clay
and bat guano to form a thick sludge, well over a metre deep, and about
12m long.

On the far side of the cess pool, the cave terminates after less than
10m. The paw prints in the mud proved that otters Aonyx capensis are
cave explorers too, and have been right to the end of the cave. We also
found about ten Rhinolophus and a few Miniopterus roosting in the
cave. All of the bats were roosting individually, and not in clusters.
This was during April.

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