Cango Caves South Africa

SOUTH AFRICAN SAFARIS AND THE CANGO CAVES

The Cango Caves are a series of caves located in the Swartberg Mountain range in the Klein Karoo made up of a succession of underground holes and enclosures offering adventurous expeditions and discoveries. The caves are all underground, creating a mysterious and interesting environment for visitors. The best way to explore the Cango Caves is a guided tour. There are two types of tours on offer: adventure tours and standard tours. The adventure tour is for the more daring traveller as it goes into the deeper and darker parts of the Cango Caves and includes some small and narrow tunnel areas that can be difficult to navigate. The standard tour is a more relaxed way of exploring these underground caves. If you don’t suffer from claustrophobia this option is definitely the better one to take.

The Cango Caves, measuring over 4 km, are made up of a network of extensive tunnels and chambers - only a small part of the Cango Caves are open to visitors and interested travellers. These underground caves boast spectacular trails amongst the most magnificent limestone formations and are located 29 km outside of Oudsthoorn, which is well-known for its ostrich farming.

The Cango Caves and chambers were discovered in 1780 by a local farmer named ‘Van Zyl’. In a tribute to him the first cave chamber was called the ‘Van Zyl Chamber’ and in 1792 another cave was discovered…. In 1897 the first Cango Cave survey was done – mapping out the first 26 chambers. In 1956 a more in-depth survey was conducted, illustrating an accurate map of the cave system. This map showed that the caves run in a singular line for 775 m in the Swartberg Mountain range. In 1972 the entrance to the Cango Caves was widened and another chamber was discovered which was named Cango 2. After exploring this chamber another one was discovered two years later and was aptly named Cango 3.

In 1930 Professor Goodwin, a renowned archaeologist, conducted a test excavation of the Cango caves and found cave paintings and rock-art formations dating back to ‘middle stone ages’. This artwork created much interest for historians and archaeologists… over the years the artwork has faded but is still intriguing for historians to view.

The Cango Caves have, over the years, become a popular South African attraction. They are located in a subtropical climate with humid and rainy summers. Day time temperatures can reach over 32’C! The caves are nice and cool as well as dry and visiting and exploring the Cango Caves can be done all year round!

Have a look at our safaris that include the Cango area below. There are also other South African attractions below that you might want to visit on your South African Safari.
 

• Kruger National Park
• Garden Route
• Cape Town
• Winelands
• KwaZulu-Natal
• Addo Elephant National Park
• Greater St Lucia
• Hluhluwe-Umfolozi National Park
• Overberg
• Pilanesberg National Park
• Ukhahlamba
• West Coast
• Aquila
• Table Mountain
• Cape Point, Cape Agulhas
• Drakensberg
• Gods Window
• Kapama Game Reserve
• Kirstenbosch
• Knysna
• Madikwe Game Reserve
• Pilgrims Rest
• Robben Island
• Soweto
• Sun City
• Karoo South Africa
• Wild Coast
• V&A Waterfront
• Johannesburg
• Gansbaai
• Tsitsikamma
• Valley of a 1000 Hills
• Inverdoorn
• Cederberg
• Kimberley
• Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
• Zululand
• The Battlefields