4. Cango Caves

Beneath the surface of the earth near the Swartberg are cast Gothic chambers studded with crystals and displaying filigreed ceilings, latticework and spindly buttresses to make a medieval architect steps. If you’ve ever look at a Gothic cathedral, it’s as though it flies in the face of gravity and was created to prove that God does truly exist for, in the guest to build churches as high as the heavens, many required a miracle to keep them standing.

The Cango Caves is an underworld cathedral where rocks grow – both up and down – defying gravity and seemingly re-inventing the laws of nature.

In geological time, the Cango Caves were certainly not created in the Earth’s Middle Ages. They’re quite modern in fact. Originally – as long ago as 500 million to a billion years – the limestone running along the Swartberg range was a type of coral reef in the shallows of a primordial sea. The first cracks in the limestone strata that eventually became Cango happened when dinosaurs were tramping the planet and mammals were nocturnal rodent-like creatures.

Over the millennia, water and carbon dioxide eroded the cracks and underground rivers scoured out tunnels and caverns.

The formations of stalagmites and delicate crystals are no older than 100 000 years, dating back to the last major collapse of the roof of the caves.

Nature’s delicate artistry that decorates the caves begins with rainwater, which percolates through the rock above, dissolving the limestone along the way. The water then drips down the walls and from the roof, depositing thin layers of calcium carbonate that gradually build up into the beautiful and various formations.

Tags: Adventure, Cango Caves, Karoo, South Africa, Touring

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