WonderCave
Respect. Protect.
Entrance
The Bothongo Wondercave is situated within the Bothongo Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve and uses the same entrance.
It can be visited as an attraction on its own.
Overview
The cave was discovered by Italian miners in 1898. They mined out approximately 15% from the formation and brought them to the surface. The formation consist of calcite which they placed in a self built oven for 2 week about 1100 degrees. This formed a powder which was taken by ox wagon to Pretoria & Johannesburg to make cement, toothpaste, use to extract gold and the like. Mining was stopped in 1902 due to the outbreak of war and low productivity. This is the 3rd largest chamber in South Africa, the largest being Cango Caves and second largest Sudwala Caves.
Bothongo WonderCave Entrance
The entrance to the cave is going down 87 stair at a 45 degrees angle dropping 22 meters below the surface. You will then go down an elevator with a drop of a further 18 meters into the cave.
Features
- UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Natural Wonder 5-10 million years old
- No crawling necessary
- Cave Pearls
- Formations up to 15m
- Rim Stone pool
- Stalactites & Stalagmites
- Conducted tours every two hours
- Entry by steep staircase & elevator
- Picnic area, Kiosk
- Restaurant (currently not open)