Shete Boka 20141016 010 smallOn Thursday October 16, 2014 one of the parkrangers of the Christoffel park , Wotty, would show us a cave that he had found in his youth; he himself had nevered entered this cave. So we gathered at the entrance of the Christoffelpark at 8 Am that morning and drove from there to the Shete Boka area. We parked our cars close to Boka Wandomi and Wotty started searching for the entrance of the cave. Later I understood why he had to search; even when you know that there is a cave, the entrance is so small that you easily overlook it. Actually the entrance is so small that not everyone in our group would have fit through it. Fred and I went inside and a bit later also Eddy followed. The others decided to stay outside.

 The only way we could safely enter the cave was lying on our back, feet first. As soon as we were through the small opening the cave opened up a bit; there you had a choice to go left or right; Wotty advised us to go left. Strangely enough this cave had a sandy bottom. Probably this cave will fill with seawater when there are high waves (luckily not when we were inside). We didn't find any bats in this cave probably for the same reason.

The cave is mostly undisturbed. There are a lot of small stalactites and these seem to be intact. There is still water dripping from these stalactites and on the bottom there are some stalagmites and dark spots where new stalagmites will form. The cave is considerably larger than we had expected; there are several rooms in the cave. Fred went as far as he safely could go and warned us not to follow because the room between floor and ceiling became less and less.

We stayed a bit more than half an hour inside the cave and took a lot of pictures. When looking at the pictures it looks as if the cave has sufficient light to look around but actually the cave is pitch black. So it was only when looking at the pictures afterwards that I found out that there was a small river flowing through the cave. Not even the entry can be seen when inside the cave so it is very easy to get lost. Luckily part of the group stayed outside and by calling them we were able to determine our direction to the exit. Crawling out of the cave was also not easy but we all made it safely. And probably also everyone before us because, as Fred said, we didn't find any skeletons inside the cave.

Wotty went back to the Christoffel park and we continued to the West. Starting with Boka Wandomi we walked along Boka Kortalein, a nameless boka, Boka Platé and finally Boka Manzaliña. That last bay has a long sandy beach so this would be a perfect place for turtles to breed.

After the walk back to our cars we drove back to the Christoffel park and from there back home. This was a very nice hike; one advice though: don't enter this cave on your own without proper equipment to find your way back out. And if you do, there should always be some people waiting outside in case something goes wrong.

  • Shete_Boka_20141016_001Our track along a number of bocas (bays)
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_002A nice Indju at the parking lot of Savonet
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_004The entrance of Cueba di Wotty
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_004aEntrance is very narrow (picture by Fred)
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_005Nowhere is the cave high enough to stand upright
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_006There appears to be a small river in the cave
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_007The ceiling is getting lower
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_008
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_009Stalagmites
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_010Stalactites
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_011Fred is going deeper and deeper
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_011aJohn is taking pictures (picture by Fred)
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_013Fred
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_014Eddy
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_015More stalactites
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_016Fred is studying the stalactites
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_021
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_021aReasonably comfortable place to sit (picture by Fred)
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_023
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_025The dark spots show where new stalagmites are growing
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_028Fred has to crawl to get out of this part of the cave
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_029
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_029aJohn (picture by Fred)
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_030Eddy
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_030aWhere was the exit? Eddy and John are looking for it (picture by Fred)
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_031Shells in the cave; this is a very old one (Melangona)
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_033A small pool
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_034An even smaller pool
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_035Strange looking stalactite
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_036The sleuths and Wotty (left) at the entrance of the cave
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_038Boka Wandomi
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_039The stairs at Boka Wandomi
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_040The natural bridge at Boka Wandomi
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_041The first bay of Boka Kortalein
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_042Lots of Turk's Cap cacti
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_043Multi-headed Turk's Cap cactus
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_044Small flowers
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_045
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_046A pile of diabaas
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_048Top of a cactus
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_049The broader bay of Boka Kortalein
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_050This boka continues under the ground
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_051Fred is taking pictures of a nameless bay
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_053Nice shell
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_054Boka Platé
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_056A small boka just before Boka Mazaliña
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_057Boka Manzaliña
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_058A very eroded Kadaster measuring point
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_059Even the copper dot is eroded
  • Shete_Boka_20141016_060This one is in a bit better condition