Toghobeit (Kehf)

Michael Laumanns - 29/11/2015

Co-ordinates: X523,8 Y498,8. Alt. 1,700 m (map 1:50,000 Bab Taza). The cave is near the western extreme of the Rif, near the town of Chaouene. To get there, one must pass through the village of Bab Taza, and take a trail through the forest in the direction of Djebel Laacheb. After 8 km, one arrives in a vast depression, where a spring and several buildings serving as shelter for the shepherds can be found. Shortly after this depression, the trail for Toghobest leaves the main one. The cave is reached after half an hour of walking along this trail, A dye trace done in 1980 has shown that the water that disappears in the sump at –395m emerges in the Oued Serafat, 850 m below the cave and 3,500 m away. The resurgence for the sump at - 700 m is presently unknown. The cave was shown to members of the SC Rabat in 1959 by shepherds. That year, a team formed of Penot, Camus, Lamouroux, Serrano and Renner reached a huge room at -135 m. In 1960, the SCR was stopped at a sump at -380 m (originally erroneously measured as -544 m). The exploration was taken up again in 1969 by a Belgian group from SCUC Louvain. They drained the short sump but were stopped by another sump 15 m lower. The Spéléo Chub de Blois (SCB), led by Michel Chassier, became interested in the cave in 1971: they discovered a new passage at -240, but were soon stopped by a tight squeeze. This was widened the following year, and the SCB continued to -544 m where they had to return due to lack of ropes. In 1973 a first terminus was reached at -677 m. In 1974, a fossil side passage was explored, again by the SCB, which led to a water-filled pit at -697 m (map of 1981). The length of the cave reached 3,600 m. A dive by the Association pour la Recherche Spéléologique du Maroc in 1981 brought the total depth to -7.13 m and the length to 3,725 m. The current depth of -722 m was reached in 1990 (Tricoche & Bellanger (1991). Good description in Camus & Lamouroux 1981. Description, plan and profile according to Courbon et al. (1989).