Cave Survey Library
Survey plans and descriptions from across South Africa, organised by province and geographic area.
Darklife makes cave surveys freely available for research and reference purposes. Surveys are organised by administrative province and, within each province, by geographic area or mountain range.
Some surveys are from original digital material while others have been scanned from paper copies. Quality varies. Where errors or omissions are noted, please make contact so corrections can be recorded.
223 survey PDFs across 231 caves in 3 provinces.
Eastern Cape
Eastern Cape Province — 25 caves
23 survey PDFs
The Eastern Cape surveys cover coastal sea caves along the Tsitsikamma coast, the world-heritage Klasies River Mouth caves, and sandstone systems in the Suurberg.
Browse Eastern Cape surveys →Northern Cape
Northern Cape Province — 2 caves
2 survey PDFs
The Northern Cape surveys cover cave systems mostly along the border with the Western Cape. Koggelbeen Cave at 420 m is the longest cave in this archive.
Browse Northern Cape surveys →Western Cape
Western Cape Province — 204 caves
198 survey PDFs
The Western Cape hosts the largest concentration of surveyed caves in this archive. Most occur within the Table Mountain Group sandstone of the Cape Peninsula — particularly Kalk Bay Mountain and Cape Point — with additional systems at De Hoop, Oudtshoorn, Mossel Bay, and along the Garden Route.
Browse Western Cape surveys →Survey grades
Surveys in this library follow the British Cave Research Association (BCRA) grading system for cave surveys:
| Grade | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sketch made underground without instruments |
| 3 | Magnetic compass and tape, error <2.5° |
| 4 | Clinometer and compass, error <1° |
| 5 | Calibrated instruments, error <0.5° |
| 5C / 5D | Grade 5 with detailed passage cross-sections (C) or full detail (D) |