Ninga Niamabawa
-18.561111,34.866667
Description
Codzo village, Codzo zone, Cheringoma district, Sofala province. 34°52'00'’E: 18°33'40"N (GPS WGS84), ca. 170 m asl. Surveyed on 29 Aug. 1998 by Herbert Daniel Gebauer, Adriano Germano and Michael Laumanns (BCRA-Grade 4b). Length: 130 m. Vertical range: +9,5 m. The cave is situated on the western bank of the Codzo River at a distance of about 300m downstream from the northern entrance of Codzo River Cave. Ninga Niamabawa is developed in Sandy limestone presumably at the basis of the Cheringoma limestone. The cave is a jointcontrolled dendritic pattern of rift passages with a dominant cleft direction running SWNE and a less speleogenetic relevant direction from SE-NW. The cave is a resurgence during the wet season. Due to that Ninga Niamabawa may be regarded as a ,c)-type” cave, because it is carrying an independent part-time subterraneous water flow. With it’s linear passage the character of Ninga Niamabawa differs significantly from the ,b)-type" caves which are more or less labyrinthine with interconnected big chambers, crawls and walkable passages. However, at Ninga Niamabawa's end relicts of a red coloured lateritic clay infilling could be observed which suggests that the cave passages as well were closed by sediments for a certain time. At least two bat species inhabits the cave (small rhinolophides and a big species) in small numbers. There are no guano or calcite deposits.
Fossil cave in massive limestone of the Cheringom formation, situated on the left bank of the Rio Codzo, consisting of a main gallery directed by fractures N 60° tilted of 65° toward NW conjugated with a small system N 150°, Corrosion pockets are present on the ceiling while in the sections with tilted ellipse shape ceiling channels are present, too. The fractures are filled with sandy-calcareous detritals sediments, while on some calcite deposits processes of neocorrosion have been observed. Fig. 27 situation: 1) N 60° - principal direction of karstification with 58.7%; 2) N 150° and N 30° - directions of secondary karstification respectively with 33 % and 8,3 %.
The temperature was 23° C and the relative humidity 75.2 %. On the walls of the cave there were Orthoptera Raphidophoridiae while on the floor many Blattidae, Crustacea Isopoda, and Coleoptera. A Small colony of bats was present and a deposit of guano, too.
Documents
Ninga Niamabawa 15/11/2015
Caves nearby
| Distance (km) | Name | Length (m) | Depth (m) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.3 | Upper Codzo River Cave | 40 | |
| 0.3 | Ninga Cupicua | 4 | |
| 0.3 | Mazamba Valley Caves | ||
| 0.4 | Codzo River Cave [Grotte de la Rivière Codzo] | 942 | 33 |
| 1.2 | Eastern Codzo Cave | 156 | 22 |
| 1.9 | Smaller Eastern Codzo Cave | 40 | 10 |
| 1.9 | Western Codzo Cave | 612 | 33 |
| 5.9 | Ninga Miriango | 610 | 10 |
| 7.4 | Ninga Manguenje | 188 | 10 |