Murgha Ghul Ghara

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

A relatively large cave controlled by a -strike- (tectonical or gravitational disturbance) and formed by dissolution of (middle Eocene Spintangi?) limestone, consists of one large chamber with a major side passage. CULTURAL HISTORY - Human use: The bat guano is exploited by local villagers as a valuable source of fertilizer. ETYMOLOGY: The Balochi name -Murghul Ghul Ghara- translates literally into Bird's Shit Cave but actually means Bat Guano Cave because bats are considered as a kind of bird. SITUATION (note 1): Some 5 or 8 km along the road approximately north of Spin Tangi Railway Station and on the ESE (east-southeast) side of a bare limestone hill, actually a small anticline, which lies apprximately 300 m west of a village called Pir Kalli / Pir Killi (note 2). At this point, the cultivated valley is divided by the small gorge of one Spin Tangi (note 3). The non-obvious slit / pothole cave entrance lies in a NE-SW trending rift and some 200 m up the ESE side of the hill. CAVE ESCRIPTION 1 (Hayat Ullah / Hayatulla Durrani Khan 1998.07.07): … the largest chamber cave of Pakistan, …very high temperature, … 100 m [sic! for: 100 feet] down deep by rope, … many bats and fall of water [sic! for urine] drops … CAVE DESCRIPTION 2 (note 4): The slit entrance (3 by 0.8 m wide) opens directly onto a 22.8 m deep pitch in a rift that descends to a large chamber (40 m wide, 10 m high and 90 m long). A boulder blockage ledge, followed by a ramp is reached after 7 m and the final 10 m of the pitch are free hanging into the bat chamber. At the base of the pitch a 5 m high and flat topped mound of debris and rocks provides a good vantage point for a view over the flat roofed chamber that forms the bulk of the cave's volume. Descending the slope from the base of the pitch and walking to the N / NNE large slabs are littering the chamber floor give way to a floor covered with sand and silt. To the north the chamber closes after some 40 m in solutional bedding and pockets. On he eastern side of the chamber a climb over some large rocks reaches a comfortable sized solutional passage (5 m by 2 m) that runs for some 200 m to the NNE to terminate in a sandy chamber. Some 60 m from the end of this passage a 7 m high solutional rift cuts across the main passage. From the base of the entrance pitch the chamber extends south-west to reach a more complicated area of chambers and fissures. CAVE CONTENTS: Breakdown boulders and slabs, sand, silt and large quantities of bat guano. CAVE POTENTIAL - Prospects: Possible continuations along the Side Passage to the SW-end of the cave may require the removal of rocks / slabs. Here, the CAAB members report having heard the sound of running water (bats' noise?, Chiroptera) in 1999. This was not audible in October 1999. The complicated area in the south-western -end- of the Main Chamber possibly offers further passage. TACKLE: 75 feet or 25 m of ladder or SRT rope, 10 m belay, 2 bolt hangers (placed in October 2000) and lifeline. CAVE LIFE: In October 2000 there were thousands of small, brown coloured and about 5 cm long bats (Chiroptera), cockroaches, black flies (resembling a large gnat; Diptera?), three 1.2 m long snakes (-Theer Maar- or Arrow Viper), large -Gundak- spiders, small spiders with fast legs, and a mis-guided dead fox.he eastern side of the chamber a climb over some large rocks reaches a comfortable sized solutional passage (5 m by 2 m) that runs for some 200 m to the NNE to terminate in a sandy chamber. Some 60 m from the end of this passage a 7 m high solutional rift cuts across the main passage. From the base of the entrance pitch the chamber extends south-west to reach a more complicated area of chambers and fissures. CAVE CONTENTS: Breakdown boulders and slabs, sand, silt and large quantities of bat guano. CAVE POTENTIAL - Prospects: Possible continuations along the Side Passage to the SW-end of the cave may require the removal of rocks / slabs. Here, the CAAB members report having heard the sound of running water (bats' noise?, Chiroptera) in 1999. This was not audible in October 1999. The complicated area in the south-western -end- of the Main Chamber possibly offers further passage. TACKLE: 75 feet or 25 m of ladder or SRT rope, 10 m belay, 2 bolt hangers (placed in October 2000) and lifeline. CAVE LIFE: In October 2000 there were thousands of small, brown coloured and about 5 cm long bats (Chiroptera), cockroaches, black flies (resembling a large gnat; Diptera?), three 1.2 m long snakes (-Theer Maar- or Arrow Viper), large -Gundak- spiders, small spiders with fast legs, and a mis-guided dead fox.