Gisuvo (Ubuvumo)

Michael Laumanns - 29/11/2015

(North province, Virunga mountains, Musanze district) Co-ordinates: S 01"23,631’; E 029°44,686°. Alt. ca. 2,031 m. Explored by the 2003 Swiss-German speleological project. The entrance to Ubuvumo Gisuvo is a roof collapse doline. The short part to the NW consists of a small chamber with rock piles at its extremities. There is a subsequent branched system of narrow lava tubes with very interesting lava flow marks on the floor. The main passage leads from the entrance doline in E direction. The up to 3 m high lava tube has a parallel running tunnel that branches off about 40 m from the doline but re-joins in a chamber filled with breakdown. After a short distance of tube passage another chamber with breakdown is reached where the cave splits into a northern and a southern section. Both passages have solid lava floors. The earth plugged end of the southern gallery is marked by large boulder blocks. At some places one can find lava stalactites and cracks in the cave’s walls that were the result of cooling down of the lava. Small colonies of bats and some bat guano are present. Beside these, animal bones, spiders, millipedes and woodlice were seen. Survey and description according to Laumanns et al. (2004, 2007).