Adamastor Cave
Length: 307m | Grade: 5D | Surveyed: 1999-12-01
Adamastor is the spirit of the Cape of Storms. The first story about him was told by the Portuguese poet, Camoens in the 1500’s.
While Vasco Da Gama, the Portuguese explorer, was approaching the Cape with his fleet, they were surrounded by a huge dark cloud, in the shape of a gigantic human. The figure asked them why they were so foolish as to attempt to sail in such dangerous and stormy waters and told them that there would be awful disasters if they tried to sail round the Cape of Storms. He told the terrified sailors that he was Adamastor who had tried to overthrow the gods. The gods punished him by turning him into a mountain and placing him at Cape Point to guard the seas of the south.
Anthony Hitchcock named the cave after Adamstor.
Although Anthony and I did a lot of exploring on the top of Constantiaberg, it was left to Ed Berry and co (I think) to discover Adamastor Cave.
The cave itself is very much like Oread Halls, as it is has a low stream passage that runs just below the surface of the mountain. At the end of the cave, there are some places where narrow cracks lead out to the cliff face and allow light in.
Survey
Survey — Adamastor Cave — click image to open PDF