Bala Murghab (Caves at)

(ولسوالی مرغاب - AF)
35.500000,63.333300
Grottocenter / carte

Description

General description

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

The simple vault of a man-made rock chamber (about 3 m long), close to two similar -caves- in ruins, is reported by YATE, Charles Edward (1888: 222-223) from a cliff face above the left bank of the Murghab (Morghab) somewhere near the fortress of Bala Murghab: On my way back [note 1] to Bala Murghab I took the opportunity of exploring a cave in a cliff, on the left bank of the river, that I had often looked longingly at, but had never been able to get to before. After climbing along the steep hillside above the cliff, at some risk of tumbling into the river in full flood 100 or 200 feet [30 or 60 m] down below, and stumbling suddenly on the way to a flock of young ibex, which certainly never expected to see us in such a place, I at last got to a slope where I could get down to the water's edge, and then, with the help of a rope, held by my two Sikh orderlies up above, I managed to climb along the cliffs, and after considerable scraping of elbows and knees, I got up to the cave, to find nothing but a simple vault, eight or ten feet deep. Two similar vaults, one on either side of the entrance, were partially broken away [note 2]; but when the place was new, I daresay it was cool and pleasant to sit and meditate in, with the river rolling away just below.

Documents

Bibliography 06/01/2018
  • Yate, Charles Edward 1888.

History

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

Caves nearby

Distance (km)NameLength (m)Depth (m)
0.0BALA MURGHAB (Simpson 1886), 2nd (Caves at)
6.0DO GHAR, Joy-i- Khwaja
9.3Bala Murghab (Tunnel at)
12.0BALA MURGHAB (Lindberg 1949) (Caves at)
18.3Bala Murghab (Caves at)
38.5Maruchak (Caves at)
56.3ASHAB-i- KAHF, Alti Khwaja (Cave at)
139.1ZARMAST, Maymana (Cave at)
139.1ZARMAST POT n° 1