Source: src-docs/Caves/Western_Cape/TableMountain/Bats_Giants_Survey.htm

---

The Survey of Bat's/Giant's/"Climber's Cave System

By: TF Truluck (1996)

Introduction

The survey of the system involved 18 members of the SASA (Cape) 12 days over 15 months to complete. The system is a complex of passages, side-systems, different levels, 8 entrances, and 3 caves. It has always been regarded as one of the largest sandstone caves in the world, but prior to this survey, no data had ever been presented to corroborate that fact.

This article will present the complex survey of the system and will include a history of its early exploration.

Pre-SASA Exploration

The history of the exploration of the sandstone caves of Table Mountain is intricately interwoven with that of SASA (Cape). It was here, in the early 1950s, on the back table that several large caves were explored and discovered.

The first recorded mention of caving here was in Wynberg Cave in the 1890s and a survey of part of the cave was made in 1909 (Burman 1991). Dr Louis Peringuey, the Director of the SA Museum, visited Wynberg Cave and described the Speliacris tabulae, the cave cricket (Burman 1991). In the same year, Dr KH Barnard described an amphipod, Gammarus capensis, found in Wynberg Cave. In 1931, Dr Lawrence, wrote a description of Peripatopsis alba, the white peripatus found in Wynberg Cave. All the above fauna are also found in the Giant's/Bat's/"Climber's" System.

Bat's Cave, a large and open cavern, was also known, but not thoroughly explored until the formation of SASA (Burman 1991). Oral evidence collected by the author from 2 sources indicate that Bat's and Wynberg Cave was known by hikers and other users of Table Mountain in the 1950's.

Prior to SASA's formation there had been a group of young and enthusiastic cavers called the Moles. They were led by a school-teacher, Mr JG Meyer, who in 1933 retired to Kalk Bay (Burman 1991). Over the following 15 years the Moles were responsible for the discovery and exploration of about 60 sandstone caves in the Kalk Bay Mountains. A photographic collection of Horatio Nelson, who was one of the Moles, is held in the University of Cape Town's Manuscript and Archives Collection. Some of the photographs show that they also visited Wynberg Cave. There are photos of the main Wynberg entrance and the large chamber at the bottom.

Bat's Cave

According to Burman (1959A, p 43) the Moles also knew about Bat's Cave as he mentions "I was taken to it by a friend - one of the lads at St James [Kalk Bay] who knew all about the caves there." However, it is clear that they had not explored the cave beyond the large entrance overhang.

After the initial introduction to caving by Burman's "St James friend", he decided to further explore Bat's Cave. However he found some reluctance from his friends and his exploration of the upper parts of the cave were made alone (Burman 1959A). During his solo exploration he had found the "Hilti Drop" and the normal descent into Bat's Cave via the knife-edge (E8). Inside the cave he had explored Levels 1 and 2.

In September 1951 he returned with a friend, Jack Davies, abseiled to the Bottom Level, which led into a passage and terminated (Burman 1959A). In December 1951, along with Adrian Bogers, they chickened out of abseiling down the "Hilti Drop" and instead found an easier way to the Bottom Level from Level 2 (the current route to the bottom) but further exploration was curtailed due to a supposedly constricted passage. (Burman 1959A).

Giant's Cave

In 1952, Burman, Adrian Bogers and Jerry Wannenberg, were searching for caves on Table Mountain when they located a large well-lit cavern with its floor littered with large boulders (Burman 1965). After a fruitless afternoon spent investigating various leads in the chamber, they marked it down as an easy cave - "useful for beginners meets. The cave was called Giant's Workshop. No further exploration was undertaken for 2 more years.

SASA Exploration

The growing interest in caving fuelled by the new discoveries on Table Mountain provided the impetus to form a caving organisation called the South African Speleaological Association in 1954. At the same time, a group of cavers in the Transvaal called the Cave Research Organisation of South Africa were formed. These two clubs merged and became the Cape and Transvaal Sections of the South African Speleaological Association.

Bat's Cave

Bat's Cave was obviously the venue for several SASA (Cape)'s meets. Burman (1959A) mentions that on later trips the constrictions that had blocked the earlier pre-SASA attempts at exploration proved easy to negotiate. It is probable that by this time, the cavers had become confident and more experienced in cave exploration. This constriction leads to a well worn waterway, a siphon (dry in summer), and into a chamber where the water soaks away (presumably at the northern end of the Bottom Level). There is no mention of any exploration in a southerly direction, which would have taken them to the Lower Through Route into Giant's Cave.

In Ann Macpherson's (1961) account of the "discovery" of Bat's Extension in 1960, she does not mention the existence of any through route. She noted that on a caving trip with Anthony Keen and Stuart Macpherson to Bat's Cave, she had been told that 3 other non-SASA cavers were in the cave. She had not seen anyone in the cave and when the 3 returned, she enquired where they had been. They had gained access, via a hole high up in a wall, to a series of chambers. The hole had been found by one of their fathers many years before.

The SASA cavers decided to try and find the hole. They soon located it at the northern end at the Bottom Level above the siphon mentioned above. A hole in the wall lead to a narrow passage which had been widened and into a stream-bed tunnel.

The description of the entrance to the Bat's Extension, does not quite tally with this survey. During the survey, the entrance to the extension is at the northern end of Level 2, and not at the Bottom Level. Furthermore there was no siphon or running water on either side of the current connection. Whatever route is chosen, there is no doubt that what lies beyond, is the Bat's Extension.

Once in the Extension, Macpherson (1961) does not mention the existence of an upper level chamber (Upper Chamber) and one can only assume that their entrance was lower down and followed the stream bed and so did not notice the upper chamber.

It is also strange that they also did not note the existence of Speleogriphus lepidops which is found in relative abundance in the stream in the Extension, especially in the Speleo Chamber.

Giant's Cave

The discovery of the intricate system of Giant's Cave is covered in Burman (1965 and 1991). I will dwell on these articles, as it is instructive to attempt to locate their exploration on the survey.

In 1954, on an official SASA beginners meet, 29 people were divided into groups of 5 and allowed to explore the hitherto unimpressive Giant's Workshop (Burman 1965). Burman, himself led a smaller group in exploring the Lower Chamber in the Workshop. He discovered the tight hairpin bend with a hibernating bat hanging in it. This passage leads to a vertical drop, Buck Ladder (into the Lesser Side System). When he returned to the Workshop, he found that one party of 5 was missing.

The cavers began a fresh exploration of the Workshop to locate the missing cavers. Eventually one member of the missing party emerged from behind a rock beyond which was a "concealed" passage (Gullivers Road).

Once into the passage, Burman was astounded to find that it continued down at a gentle angle before opening out into a chamber (Junction Chamber). From here the passage continued straight on. However, there was also a side passage leading off at an angle (to the Side System). The side-passage lead down in a series of ledges and then down a narrow passage (into the Lesser Side-System). Here he found the remaining 4 members of the missing party huddled around a dripping candle. This was indeed a major find.

A few weeks later SASA returned equipped with ladders and ropes. They first descended the bat passage using a ladder into a tall chamber (Buck Ladder in the Lesser Side System). They slipped through a narrow slit into Buck Terrace where they found the complete skeleton of a baby bush-buck.

From this passage they must have proceeded along the Giants Alley towards the connection to Junction Chamber. Thinking that they were the first explorers of the cave, they were disappointed to come across some melted candle wax. This was where the missing party had been found - they were the first to explore the cave.

They then pushed Gulliver’s Road, which continued straight for a while, and then twisted through a chamber reached by crawling under a rock. This terminated in a high chamber filled with huge boulders. They found some bat guano near the roof of this chamber. There were two holes in the floor of this chamber (Middle Chamber), which dropped about 20 m (sic) to a streambed in the Lower Chamber. No mention is made of any exploration leading north from the Lower Chamber. This would have lead to Bat's Cave vis the Bottom Through Route.

They explored the southern extension of Giants Alley in the Side-System. An extension to Buck Ladder was found which linked into a prominent chockstone wedged in Giants Alley. Below the chock stone was a deep drop into a narrow chamber called Bucks Basement. Giants Alley continued south where it terminated in a narrow passage [no mention was made of the most southerly exit].

Entrance No 4 was located and it was found to join the rest of the cave at the point where Giants Alley left Gulliver’s Road. The vertical entrance section was called Giants Staircase.

It is clear that by 1965, nobody had made either the upper or lower connections between Giant's and Bat's Cave. In fact Burman, while rehashing his early caving exploits in his book on Table Mountain, does not mention making the connection between these two caves. This surely would have made exciting reading and would have been included if he had been involved with making the breakthrough. There is also no reference to further exciting finds in Giant's Cave. Ann Macpherson (1961) in reporting on the discovery of the Bat's Extension does not mention any link between the two caves.

Early Survey Work

Burman (1951) was the first and only published survey of either caves. He included what was a BCRA Grade 1 survey (ie a sketch plan drawn from memory) with an account of his early exploration in the 1951 Mountain Club Journal. He freely admits that it was not accurate and indeed his article in the 1959 SASA Bulletin corrects many of the erroneous claims made in the Mountain Club Journal article. His conclusion at the end of his SASA article concedes that: "... Bat's Cave has not yet been surveyed" (Burman 1959A, p 6).

In July 1956, survey work and exploration was carried out in Giant's Cave by Burman and Ralph Taylor (Burman 1956).

In May 1957, Louis du Plessis lead a meet to Giant's Workshop and further survey work was carried out (du Plessis 1957).

Burman (1959B) in an article on Giant's Cave, notes that "though we have surveyed it, we are still trying to reduce the results onto paper, since the passages and pits occur in at least 3 levels, and in some places, one feels, in 4 dimensions."

Macpherson (1961) in her article on Bat's Extension "hopes that soon we shall see the survey and complete exploration of this new part of the cave ...".

The cave (Giant's) proved to offer up continual surprises as it was a cave "with a mass of passages, cris-crossing at different levels, and surveying it was a major headache" (Burman 1965, p 5).

From the above it was obvious that prior survey work was carried out by SASA members. However none of the data has remained and no surveys of the cave were drawn up.

The 1992-93 Survey of the Giant's/Bat's/"Climber's" System

My first caving meet in 1985 with SASA had been to Giant's Cave. It was my first "big" cave and I was just as fascinated by the many surprises and challenges it held in store for the novice caver as the early explorers in the 1950s. Over the following 8 years I had made many trips to the system and I decided to start the survey. I knew that it would be a difficult task, but I was also keen to explore all the sections and clear up the many loose ends that I had come across during my earlier explorations.

In April 1992, on a long-weekend Table Mountain caving trip, I started the survey. On Saturday 4 April 1992, five cavers: Steve Stuttard, Rodney Eksteen, Robert Whitehead, Darryl Holland and the author, began surveying the Giants Workshop and Gullivers Road via the Lower Through Route to Bat's Cave. On Monday 6 April, Andrew Penney and Rodney Eksteen joined Truluck and surveyed Giants Staircase, the Top Through Route and part of Bat's Cave.

It was a good start to the survey and highlighted the fact that the fewer members on the survey team the better. Five people were too many. Inevitably some members are not kept occupied and the continual swopping of roles ensures a lack of rhythm. The cave was cold and damp and the attention span of surveyors tends to dwindle unless everyone is kept busy. A party of 3 (and later even 2) was found to be ideal.

There was then a break of ten months while the author completed his M.A. However, he was involved in several smaller survey projects and an expedition to the Zimbabwe dolomite caves. During this period the surveying skills of the cavers in the club improved. A good working relationship developed between the author, Pete Aucamp, David Harley and Darryl Holland.

During the traditional weekend Table Mountain meet in February 1993, Truluck, Holland and Steve Stuttard continued the survey. The difficult and often dangerous Giants Alley and Lesser Side System was tackled. This section of the cave is a maze of interleading passages, deep narrow rifts and many loose and unstable rocks. It is the most confusing section of the cave. The main route in the Side System leads from the Junction Chamber along Giants Alley and exits in two places at the southernmost end overlooking the Hely-Hutchinson Dam (is this correct?) (the Southern Entrances.

The vertical nature of the exit from Giants Alley is particularly tricky. In one of the chambers Truluck slipped and fell some 3.5 m. Luckily he landed squarely on his feet and proceeded unhurt.

After this weekend, survey work continued fairly rapidly. There was to be a large caving expedition to explore the deep sandstone shafts in the Chimanimani Mountains in August 1993. Surveying of the Giant's/Bat's/"Climber's" System proved a good project to improve fitness, survey skills and caving techniques.

The next survey stint in March 1993. Truluck and Harley were to spend 2 days tying up loose ends in the Side System, the open rift at the Southern Entrances and a more thorough exploration and survey of the Workshop. On the first day they were joined by a visiting German caver, Stefan Baumann, who lived in Port Elizabeth. The Side System was completed as well as the long rift with Entrance No. 2 at the northern end. Harley and Truluck also surveyed several passages and chambers in the Workshop. The most promising and interesting was the Lower Chamber which has the bat passage found by Burman terminating at the edge of the 10 m deep Buck Ladder.

During another weekend caving meet (17 April 1993), Truluck, Harley, Holland and a new caver, Stefan Schmid, surveyed a new vertical Entrance (No. 5). It was discovered by Rodney Eksteen (who had since moved to Johannesburg) in mid-1992. The entrance is under some boulders about 5 m to the west of Entrance No. 4. It was named Rodney's Route and according to Aucamp and Eksteen, who had first descended it, had not been explored before. Near the entrance is a very tight squeeze, through which Truluck could not fit. While the remaining party continued the survey, Truluck went into the Gullivers Road to wait for the others to appear.

Truluck had thought that the Rodney's Route would connect with the Giant's System somewhere near the Junction Chamber/Giants Staircase section. After about an hour's wait in the cold and dripping wet cave he exited for a short time. After he had warmed up, Truluck re-entered and as he approached the Junction Chamber he heard some scuffling noises. However, the noises were coming from the Gullivers Road passage further into the cave and not from the vicinity of Junction Chamber. Continuing north along Gullivers Road, he was surprised to hear shouts from the large flat-roofed chamber (Flat Top Chamber) which is above Gullivers Road and is part of the Top Through Route. Once in the chamber, the 3 cavers could be seen peering down from a narrow ledge some 6 m up a smooth wall in the south-west corner. A ladder was quickly lowered and they scrambled down to meet me.

After lunch, Truluck and Holland, surveyed a short passage which linked the Workshop to the lower reaches of Giants Staircase. Volker Gartz had told us of this connection and so we called it Volker's Vay. The Workshop now had three entrances into the system: one under the entrance pitch leading to Gullivers Road; Bucks Ladder in the Lower Chamber which drops 10 m; and Volker's Vay leading into the Side-System via Giants Staircase and Giants Alley.

The following day, 18 April 1993, Truluck and Holland decided to survey Bat's Cave. This cave, true to Burman's word, is very difficult to survey. There are three levels inside the cave as well as a large semi-covered Entrance Level which extends into the cave across the Hilti Drop. The levels are all above each other and there are several narrow side passages leading off. It was also very wet and quite cold in the cave. After about 7 hours, we had finished the main section of the cave (Entrance Level, Levels 1 and 2, and the Bottom). However, Truluck and Holland could not find the Bat's Extension.

By 18 April 1993, much of the known system had been surveyed. The two through routes, the two vertical entrances, the Side System, the Southern Entrances, the Workshop and Bat's Cave.

The number of passages totalled about 1250 m of passage. Not bad for a sandstone cave, but nowhere near a record. The longest sandstone cave in South Africa was Magoto Cave in the Transvaal at 1600 m. However, Jacques Martini had been surveying Magnet Cave, a new sandstone system in the Transvaal (Martini 1991). The system had a surveyed length of 2500 m but he had not been able to join up the passages so it was in three sections. We were still short of 350 m of passage to become the longest sandstone cave in SA.

Still to be located and surveyed was the Bat's Extension - perhaps this could add 350 m to the cave length.

On a Chimanimani Caving Expedition training meet at the end of June 1993, Lisa Casalvolone and Kenda Taylor had taken 3 novice cavers into Bat's Cave. They had worked their way down the system and located what they thought was a high level passage 4 m up a smooth wall at the northern end of Level 2. They cajoled the novices into this passage which lead into the Bat's Extension. After a while they returned when it was found that some of the novices were becoming distressed and fatigued. Macpherson's (1961) warning was correct - this section was not a place for inexperienced cavers. However, everyone managed to leave the cave without serious mishap (we have never seen the novice cavers again).

A few days later on Friday 2 July 1993, Casalvolone lead Truluck, Harley and Aucamp to the connection to Bat's Extension. Once over the tricky high level passage, the Extension follows a narrow rift which has been widened and deepened by a stream. There are some unstable, narrow and muddy sections. A high level chamber above stream-bed has developed near the connection (Upper Chamber). Near the end of the Extension is a downward squeeze which leads to a stream bed. Some graffiti was found on the ceiling and walls - possibly the same as that found mentioned by Macpherson (1961). The stream passage becomes too narrow at both the southern and northern ends and the cave terminates here.

The Bat's Extension added 150 m to the survey, so the system was now 1400 m long. Apart from one or two small passages and question marks which could add a few metres, the cave seemed to be at an end. While it is certainly one of the longest sandstone caves in the world, it was not the longest, or even the longest in South Africa.

Exploration of "Climber's Cave"

In 1992, the author, intrigued by the disappearance of Climber's Cave on Table Mountain, began looking for the cave on the back table. Acting on information supplied by Burman, a deep cavern was located between the Bat's and Giant's Caves main entrances which was thought to be the missing cave. This cavern therefore became known to contemporary cavers as Climber's Cave. However, it was soon apparent that it was not the Climber's Cave that Burman (1959A; 1991) had discovered in the 1950's. This cave was renamed "Climber's Cave" to distinguish it from the original one.

(Place footnote here: Just prior to his departure to Zambia, the original Climber's Cave was relocated by the author on the ridge behind Wynberg Cave.)

The deep cavern located on the fault-line between Giant's and Bat's Cave attracted considerable interest of several Cape Cavers. Perhaps there could be a connection to the larger system?

In late 1992 a former Transvaal caver, Alistair Koliasnikoff, had moved to Cape Town. Koliasnikoff was impressed by this cave and soon was in the forefront of trying to find new extensions. He was joined by some enthusiastic novices and more experienced cavers: Pete Aucamp, Glenn Page, Dave Hilton, David Harley and Stefan Schmid.

After an initial narrow entrance, the cave descends very steeply for about 25 m to a large flat bottomed chamber (Main Chamber). The way down is via a series of chockstones and ALBs (Amazing Levitating Boulders). The chamber is orientated in a roughly north-south direction. To the south it narrows to a passage. This passage drops a few metres in some unstable and friable sandstone and continues for about 6 more metres. There is also a narrow squeeze to a smaller lower chamber. Leading off from the bottom of this chamber is a very narrow rift.

Their first aim was to push the narrow crack in the small chamber at the south end at the bottom of the cave (Dave and Dave's Crack). It was thought that it might lead into the Upper Through Route in the Bat's/Giant's System below. Hilton and Harley tried to climb down, but it became very dangerous. Hilton had to be pulled out of the crack after he became wedged. Clearly this was too dangerous to pursue.

They then turned their attention to the mass of boulders and sand at the northern end of the Main Chamber. There seemed to be a breeze emanating from a small gap amid the boulders. Aided with a crowbar and hammer, Koliasnikoff managed to break and dig through into a narrow 3 m long crawl. This in turn lead to a climb over and down some boulders and into another chamber. Success. They had broken into a new section and it was called "Nofski's New World".

At the northern end the chamber narrowed into a 3 m high crack. There was a strong fungus like smell that reminded the cavers of rotting cabbages (hence it called Cabbage Crack). Following this crack one could see daylight above. At this point the crack extended upwards for some 8 m and after quite a bit of cave modification a very narrow passage out of the cave was cleared. This exit (Entrance No. 7) was located among some boulders on the path leading from Giant's Cave to Bat's Cave.

The crack was then pushed in a northerly direction. It soon narrowed in height and width and became a 6 m long muddy crawl which entered a small chamber (Connection Chamber). This chamber was very unstable and many loose rocks had to be cleared down a narrow hole at the far end. Harley, the thinnest of the group, managed to scramble part way down the hole in the floor. He heard the sound of Bats. However, when he returned to the small chamber, a large rock slid into the hole and could not be moved. Several caving trips were made to try and remove the rock. But no manner of hammering and chiselling or levering could budge the rock. The sound of Bats could only mean one thing - it connected to Bat's Cave - but where was the connection going to be made.

The author with Aucamp, Harley and Schmid, surveyed "Climber's Cave" on 29 April 1993. The cave was about 200 m long.

On 16 June 1993, the author, Harley and Aucamp returned to the "Hilti Drop" in Bat's Cave to conduct some bolting trials with a sponsored Hilti drill and fastening equipment. Harley also used the drill to bolt a traverse line across the drop. He found that there was a passage leading off from the other side. This passage followed a crack before becoming solid floor and terminated after about 15 m. There did seem to be some sort of vertical extension above a pile of debris, but Aucamp found it too difficult to climb.

This new section was surveyed on a future Chimanimani Expedition training meet by the author, Aucamp and Holland on 27 June 1993.

At about this time, the author procured a computerised cave survey programme called COMPASS via the Caver's Digest on the Internet. The data from the Bat's/Giant's System and "Climber's Cave" was soon captured. A surface survey conducted by the author and Holland on 27 June 1993 was entered. This enable "Climber's Cave" to be drawn in relation to the Bat's/Giant's System.

When viewed on the computer terminal, Connection Chamber in "Climbers Cave" was located about 20 m above the new extension in Bat's Cave on the other side of the "Hilti Drop". It was decided to make an attempt to link the caves at this point.

On an official SASA meet on 4 July 1993, a group of about 15 people gathered. Although an attempt to make a breakthrough was to be made, it was also a training meet for the members of the Chimanimani Caving Expedition due to take place in a months time.

Aucamp and Harley, aided by Schmid had agreed to try and remove the rock from the narrow crack in the terminal chamber in "Climber's Cave". Meanwhile J-P Le Roux, Kenda Taylor and Darryl Holland would rig the 15 m deep "Hilti Drop" and the traverse line across the pit to the passage on the other side. The author and Steve Craven completed the surface survey - linking all 8 entrances of the system.

Aucamp and Harley used the drill to place a ring-bolt in the offending rock. They then placed a ring-bolt in the wall of the small chamber. By using a pulley-system, they managed to manoeuvre the rock out of the hole and attach it using a short wire belay to the bolt in the wall. They then started their descent of Hilti Way using SRT techniques. The drill was used to place rebelays and deviations in the narrow and unstable pitch. It soon became apparent that in tight places the drill was difficult to use as it was often longer than the gap through which the cavers were descending. At several points Aucamp, who was the larger of the two, had some difficulty in negotiating tight sections. He realised that he would have to continue as he would never be able to climb back out again.

Le Roux and co, who had been waiting for over three hours, had given up the wait and had derigged the traverse. As he was about to leave the cave, they heard some tumbling rocks. Two very dirty and sore cavers had descended into the passage on the other side of the "Hilti Drop". They made their way to edge of the 15 m drop and Le Roux quickly (if a little grudgingly) rerigged the traverse line. While re-crossing the "Hilti Drop", Le Roux who was helping them carry the drill, dropped the drill down the pitch - hence "Hilti Drop". Upon retreaving it from the bottom - rather worse for wear - it was noted that a buckle on the experimental carrying harness had broken. Le Roux was exonerated. (Kindly, Hilti were most forgiving and agreed to replace the drill for the forthcoming expedition - in fact they even let us use two)

The computer had been correct - the connection was made where it had predicted it would.

It was an elated group of cavers who returned from an exciting day's caving. When the data from Aucamp and Harley's connection had been fed into the computer, the Bat's/Giant's/"Climber's" System was 1632 m long. A new South African record for sandstone caves.

That evening, while rehydrating with a few of Craven's homebrew beers, it was decided to release a press statement announcing the breakthrough. This in turn lead to a front page article and colour photo in Die Burger, an front page article in the Cape Times with schematic survey of the breakthrough section, several articles in various other South African newspapers, a full page feature with photos and survey of the breakthrough section in the Argus, and a television interview of the author which was broadcast on the late night news.

This was a fitting climax to a survey that had taken many months to complete.

Future Considerations

Thinking back on the survey, there are several question marks that should be investigated.

1) The narrow lower southern end of Giants Alley.

2) The 2 small downward passages in the Lower Chamber in the Lower Through Route. These were quickly looked at and found to descend to a small stream passage.

3) The stream passage in the northern end of Bottom Section of Bat's Cave needs to be pushed.

4) Ex-caver, Dalton Gibbs, once claimed that there was a 3rd Through Route which was very narrow. This has not been found.

5) A possible connection between the southern lower end of "Climber's Cave" and the long northern trending passage half way down Rodney's Route.

6) A small and unstable upper chamber in Bat's Extension above the downward squeeze near the southern end.

It would be foolish of me to think that the System was "finished" and that no more exploration need be done. While this survey has tried to be as thorough as possible, there are always sections and leads that have been missed. New generations of cavers always seem to disregard the "fact" passed on by their elders that the cave is finished. And, they inevitably find new and unexplored sections.

At least, this survey has been completed to show the following generations what had been known in the 1990s. To these future cavers I wish them happy hunting and hope that the cave gives them as much pleasure and excitement that it has given my predecessors and I over the years.

Acknowledgements

To all the SASA members and fellow cavers who contributed to this survey:

Tim Truluck (Co-ordinator), Darryl Holland, David Harley, Pete Aucamp, Alistair Koliasnikoff, Andrew Penney, Rodney Eksteen, Dave Hilton, Stefan Schmid, J-P Le Roux, Steve Craven, Lisa Casalvolone, Steve Stuttard, Stefan Baumann, Glenn Page, Rob Whitehead, Kenda Taylor and John Cuthbert.

To those cavers who offered advice and information:

Shirley Butcher, Steve Cannoo, Volker Gartz, Jose Burman and Jan Blaquiere.

To Hilti Fastening Technology for the use of a portable hammer drill and fastening equipment.

To the Water Bailiff and his wife for their hospitality towards Truluck and Harley and for allowing us to leave caving equipment in their storeroom.

To the Western Cape Branch of the Mountain Club of South Africa for the use of their Table Mountain hut on several occasions.

References

Burman J (1951). please put in correct ref to Bats Cave article in MCSA Journal

Burman J (1956). Meet Report. SASA Bull 1(2), p 1.

Burman J (1959A). Bats Cave. SASA Bull 4(3), pp 43-6.

Burman J (1959B). Article in the Cape Argus, 12/12/1959.

Burman J (1965). Giant's Workshop. SASA Bull 1965, pp 3-6.

Burman J (1991). Chapter 9: In a cavern under. The Table Mountain Book, Cape Town:Human & Rosseau.

du Plessis L (1956). Unpublished meet report (d. 1/7/1956) on a visit to Giant's Workshop. SASA Records, Manuscripts and Archives Dept, University of Cape Town.

du Plessis L (1956). Meet Report. SASA Bull 2(4), p 7.

Macpherson A (1961). Bats' Cave Extension. SASA Bull 1961(2), pp 41-2.

Martini J (1991) ??????? (Magnet Cave) please put in correct details.

⮤ Back to Table Mountain

⮤ Back to Table Mountain