Mutanda Francisco N°1
-19.920528,34.126833
Location
Mutanda zone, Buzi district, Sofala province. GPS (WGS84) S 19°55'13.9" / E 34°07'366", ca. 120 m asl. Surveyed on 26 Aug. 1999 by Artur Fernandes, Michael Laumanns and Jens Römer (BCRA-Grade 4b). Length: 57,00 m. Vertical range: -18,00 m. ml The ,Mutanda Francisco” caves can be reached from the track leading along the E of the karst occurrence to the Buzi river. The car has to be left in a small village about 300 m W of the , kiosk” (see location map). From there one has to walk to the W using a footpath along a dry river bed and subsequently through a shallow dry valley with several small sinkholes (no cave entrances). Mutanda Francisco No. 4 is situated about 100 m south of this dry valley about 2 km from the car. All the other caves are situated on the karst plateau, which can be reached by walking for another 2 km from the dry valley to the W (without footpath). For further details see localisation map.
Description
The entrance of Mutanda Francisco No. 1 is a 16,5 m deep vertical pit (SRT/steel rope ladder needed). It leads into a huge chamber with round ground shape (25 m in diameter, 8 m high), which has developed under phreatic conditions. A tunnel -shaped conduit of about 20 m length starts in the SE part of the chamber but ends soon. Another small tube in the N wall of the chamber gets too tight after some meters. The bat guano deposit in the cave was intensively excavated in colonial time. Rocks were accurately piled up under the entrance pit and in the S part of the chamber. In the W part of the chamber the guano has been dug out to a depth of 3 m. Pieces of corrugated iron are still visible in the cave. Only very few bats were observed in the cave during our exploration. No evidence of conglomerate infillings. An air temperature of 18,5°C was measured.
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | Mutanda Francisco N°2 | 35 | 0 |
| 0.0 | Mutanda Francisco N°3 | 96 | 18 |
| 0.0 | Mutanda Francisco N°5 | 24 | 10 |
| 0.0 | Mutanda Francisco N°6 | 33 | 22 |
| 0.0 | Mutanda Francisco N°7 | 10 | 8 |
| 0.0 | Mutanda Francisco N°8 | 16 | 5 |
| 0.0 | Mutanda Francisco N°9 | 10 | 8 |
| 0.0 | Mutanda Francisco N°10 | 14 | 5 |
| 0.0 | Mutanda Francisco N°11 | 11 | 11 |