SANG KNI IKGILRAM

Herbert Daniel Gebauer - 06/01/2018

At a first glance this is one single, joint controlled and almost linear cave passage but is actually two aligned river cave passages which run (along the local strike of the strata, circa -10° to 160°) from a common height with several rift pot entrances located in opposite directions: There is a sump in the ENE and a resurgence in the WSW. During the rains, the resurgence feeds a tributary from the left (east) into the river Khimrang. SITUATION: The cave lies at a walking distance of about half an hour from the abandoned and deteriorating (2002) Inspection Bungalow at the village of Asakgre - Imandura. To reach the cave, walk down to the village and take the frequently used footpath which descends from the Nokpanthe (communal bachelor's house) to the river Khimrang. Having reached the riverbank, walk 15 or 20 minutes upstream (on the left-hand side) above the right (southern) river bank to where the path forks. Take the right-hand turning down to the riverbed (less than 10 m below. Having reached the river there is a choice of two routes. The longer one, allowing for dry socks till the cave entrance is reached, crosses the shallow river via a loose log and ascends some 50 vertical metres to the pungent and fly-infested cowboy's settlement (Asakgre's communal cattle farm on the way to the Danged area) from where a path must be found (guide unavoidable) which descends through the jungle into the gully where the entrances are found. The shorter route to the cave, about 300 m long, runs along the riverbed itself and requires repeated crossings of the river which is just that little bit deeper than wellies are high. Watch out for an overgrown tributary from the east (walking upstream on the right). Walk upstream in the moderately ascending tributary for about 100 m till the rocky streambed, dry in the cool season, meets the bouldery strewn bottom of an escarpment. None of the three entrances is obvious but they are all are found where they might typically be exected to occur. CAVE DESCRIPTION: The resurgence in the south-west of the cave system consists of a three parallel passages, interconnected by side passages and forming a simple orthogonal maze, which are accessed by three entrances. The first entrance, Sang Kni Ikgilram proper, is an opening between boulders (1.5 m wide and 2 m long) which drops 2 m to a pool (2 m wide, 5 m long) of waist deep water. Beyond the pool, a hands-and-knees crawl enters from the left (north-west) leading to the second entrance (a metre wide but less high), again obstructed by fallen rocks. The united passages continue as a 12 m long crawl (3 m wide, less than 1 m high) which leads to a second pool. Here, the sizeable -First Passage- enters from the right, and a bouldery strewn ascent to the left leads to the third entrance, the largest but which is the most obscured when approaching on the surface, but the easiest to enter where there not a 4 m climb to reach it from below. The First Passage runs for 120 mto the north-north-east (generally 3 to 5 m wide, 1.2 to 4 m high) to end straight ahead in a collapse and in a sump beyond a duck (2 m long, 8 cm airspace) on the right-hand side. A lead to the NNW (1 m wide, 5 m high, 20 m long) is marked by an initial flowstone floor and gives access to the Second Passage (on average 3 m high and wide, 80 m long) which is characterised by a garland of avens of which the most south-westerly one opens to a terminal collapse pothole in jungle. Two passages to the NNW (one to 2 m wide, up to 5 m high) lead to the Third Passage (4 to 6 m wide, 3 m high, 400 m long) which is characterised by a rocky floor, a series of pothole entrances at crossing rifts, and functioning as a south-westerly main gallery that connects the heights of the cave systems high to the resurgence. Of the leads to the south-south only one has been fully explored. The upper level, comparatively rich in dull calcite formations (speleothems) leads to a chamber (12 m wide, 10 m high), he lower level into a maze of initially walking sized passages which deteriorate into uninspiring crawls and tight rifts. At one point, 600 m from the resurgence entrance, the main gallery takes a sharp right-angled turn to the right and descends for some 20 m (-7.5°, along the local dip of the strata) to reach the largest chamber of the cave, characterised by muddy sand accumulations riddled with funnels. PROSPECTS: Substantial additions to the cave system are not expected but several leads, apparently minor, remain unexplored and should yield a couple of hundred metres when surveyed, preferably by dedicated cavers. The nearby –>Romaturankol seems to be hydrologically linked to Sang Kni Ikgilram.PALAEONTOLOGY: A confusion of bones protrude from the left (south-eastern) wall of the small, active 'Ramo del Fossile' (Fossil's Passage), and about halfway between Chibanda Entrance and 'Jungle Entrance'. CULTURAL HISTORY - Cave snake legend: Sang Kni (note 1) is a big, awe inspirng serpent (neither male nor female) which carries a light emitting -rose- (jewel?) on its head. It is not only a big snake, it is the mother of them all. She is so powerful that she can easily turn a mountain into a river or a river into a mountain with just a flick of her tail. The roaring noise she makes (note 2) can sometimes be heard at the cave entrance, and the Garo 'ikgil' literally translates into -roaring- (Blen Marak, personal communication 2002.02.14, 2002.12.26). Sang Kni, however, is not a dreadful beast all the time, it is also benevolent to humans. Once, for example, there were two sisters roaming the forest in search of a place to establish a farm but they could not find a suitable site anywhere. Somehow the two sisters met the serpent and fled in terror, screaming. The serpent, knowing of the two sisters' need, levelled a stretch of land sp that the two sisters and their families could settle there (Neil Sootinck after Danupa, personal communication 2002.12.26).ng serpent (neither male nor female) which carries a light emitting -rose- (jewel?) on its head. It is not only a big snake, it is the mother of them all. She is so powerful that she can easily turn a mountain into a river or a river into a mountain with just a flick of her tail. The roaring noise she makes (note 2) can sometimes be heard at the cave entrance, and the Garo 'ikgil' literally translates into -roaring- (Blen Marak, personal communication 2002.02.14, 2002.12.26). Sang Kni, however, is not a dreadful beast all the time, it is also benevolent to humans. Once, for example, there were two sisters roaming the forest in search of a place to establish a farm but they could not find a suitable site anywhere. Somehow the two sisters met the serpent and fled in terror, screaming. The serpent, knowing of the two sisters' need, levelled a stretch of land sp that the two sisters and their families could settle there (Neil Sootinck after Danupa, personal communication 2002.12.26).