Mbilibekon (Grotte de)

Michael Laumanns - 28/11/2015

(South Cameroon, Ebolowa, Nko’étyé) Co-ordinates: E 011°17’43”; S 2°52’24”. Alt. 650 m. Also called „Trou des Fantômes“ by French explorers. Ebolowa village is situated about 120 km south of Yaounde. The Spanish expedition of 1990 (Ferrer Martinez 1996) mapped the cave and reported 217 m length. However, their cave map differs significantly from the later French survey (neither map gives an indication on the measuring accuracy), e.g. by missing a complete passage and indicating other entrances. The French team (Lips 1994, Vicat et al. 1995, Lips 1997a), not aware of the Spanish expedition, resurveyed Gouffre de Mbilibekon in 1993/94 and published a length of 220 m. Due to the fact that the cave is formed in laterite by fairly quick piping processes, the actual length and the existence of passages and entrances may be somewhat variable what could explain the survey differences. Mbilibekon drains a water table on the contact with the Precambrian basement rocks. It has a vertical extent of just +7 m. The cave contains carbon dioxide and a huge bat colony. Plan according to Vicat et al. (1995).