Mutenda Ndauya

Michael Laumanns - 28/11/2015

Mutenda Ndauya has two vertical entrances: a main (direct) pit and an adjacent pit approximately 30 m to the SW with 10 m depth. The latter one leads to a crawl which connects to the main pit at a depth of 8 m where a small platform intersects the overall 21 m deep main descent (SRT recommended). The pit is a long crevice and measures min. 1.5 x 5 m in diameter. Boulders form the ground. A 12 m long passage continues NW, whose end shows digging traces from the time of the bat guano exploitation. To the SE one enters an enormous tunnel (5 x 6 m) with thousands of bats of the species Hipposideros commersoni vittatus (PETERS 1877). Before the exploitation of the guano, the soil level was at least 1-1,5 m above today's level, which is clearly to be seen from the colour of the walls. The phreatic tunnel continues 30 m in N direction but closes down abruptly in a dead end leading upward. In S direction the tunnel meets another phreatic tunnel of the same size running in East-West direction, which ends soon, too. Beside the above-mentioned horseshoe bats the cave accommodated also spiders, cave-crickets, beetles and insects. No signs for a conglomerate filling were found. The air temperature was measured with 19.4°C in the small pit and 25,8°C in the tunnel-shaped main gallery,