New best friends

Bats in Gobholo Cave

Bats in Gobholo Cave.

Today we were more successful with continuing to map and measure the cave. The car was still not fixed but we got a ride and were collected by another one.

We started at 8 today and hiked up the mountain as usual, but today – Saturday – was much more activity in the forest. Women and children collecting fire-wood, men out with their cows … and dogs barking everywhere.

At the cave we continued where we left – apart from myself, I continued taking pictures and now evolved to be the expedition photographer. Probably because no one else is so stupid to climb and crawl through a cave with an expensive camera and a tripod… ;)

I got many nice pictures of my new friends, the bats, and dripstones, spiders, crickets etc.
And the gigantic spider from Wednesday died of alcohol over-consumption today (together with some insects).

During our lunchbreak we saw (and heard) a bushfire close to us. When we got out in the evening it was actually just by the cave and we hiked down parly in burning or burnt down forest. It somehow burning somewhere all the time. And all forests have burnt trees. And it’s so dry here!

We reached the bottom of the cave today – which is the river – and it is about 45 m below the entrance. Tomorrow we will start with the loops from the main route.
It’s geology is quite interesting and further down are a lot of flowstones, which are rather unusual in granite.

Now it’s bed-time … dreaming of my cute little bats, which every now and then opened their eyes and looked at me (making me feel guilty …)

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