Ninga Niamagingiri

(Cheringoma - MZ)
-18.374722,34.972778
Length 165m Depth 7m
Grottocenter / carte

Description

Michael Laumanns - 26/11/2015

Dimba village, Chidanga zone, Cheringoma district, Sofala province. 34°58'22"B: 18°22'29' N (GPS WGS84), ca. 230 m asl. Surveyed on 27 Aug. 1998 by Herbert Daniel Gebauer, Adriano Germano and Michael Laumanns (BCRA-Grade 4b). Length: 165 m. Vertical range: -7 m. The cave is identical with „Caverna Cheringoma no.15" (Vachamuteco 1982) and is situated a short distance from the road from Inhaminga to Chite. Ninga Niamagingiri is the longest cave surveyed in the area north of Inhaminga. Two roof collapses of 4 and 6 m depth (steel rope ladder), a 6 m deep pothole and a crawl entrance in a collapse doline gives access to a horizontal SW - NE running rift passage intersected by a tight crawl. The rift passage has dimensions of 6,5 x 5 m in the NE extension. An approximately 50 m long side branch leads to the W. Some pottery was found in the cave near the southern pothole entrance representing the only place in all the caves surveyed in the Cheringoma plateau with visible human artefacts. Ninga Niamagingiri shows traces of exploited guano. Vachamuteco (1982) reported a cave with guano, 25 m long, 4,5 m wide, housing about 2,000 bats. Today a small bat population can be found in a side chamber of the western passage. The cave does not contain calcite speleothemes.

Michael Laumanns - 27/11/2015

Fossil cave in the Eocene limestone of the Cheringoma formation, constituted with galleries with campaniform section on predominantly fractures N 60° and N 115°. The last ones are also connected through conduits on bedding plains. Especially on the walls and on the ceiling meander niches of corrosion and ceiling channels are present. Fig. 24 shows the following structural directions of karstification: 1) N 55-60° and N 115° directions of prevailing karstification with 74.1 % and 18%; 2) N 130° and N 160° secondary directions of karstification with 5% and 2.9 %.

Michael Laumanns - 28/11/2015

The cave presents a big deposit of guano and a big colony of bats (Rhinolophidae). On the guano many larves of Trichoptera, many Blattidae and different species of Coleoptera were present. Under the pebbles Isopoda and small Blattidae without pigment were present, while on the walls Orthoptera Raphidophoridae and Arachnida Amblypygi were found.

Caves nearby

Distance (km)NameLength (m)Depth (m)
0.4Ninga rego Swere10110
0.7Ninga Macie [Cementary Cave]55
0.8Tombo Apale Cave 4474
1.0Ninga Tombo Apale416
1.0Tombo Apale Cave 3186
1.3Tombo Apale Cave 2234
5.6Larger Umbira Cave1068
5.8Smaller Umbira Cave
16.6Ninga Manguenje18810