| Location: | Northern slope of Mount Tamana aka Tamana Hill, eastern Trinidad. (10°21'N, 61°11'W) |
| Open: | |
| Fee: | |
| Classification: |
 Karst cave
Miocene Guaracara Limestone of the Tamana Formation
|
| Light: | lamps provided by tour guides |
| Dimension: | |
| Guided tours: | |
| Bibliography: |
Julian S. Kenny (1979):
Floor plan, environment, and fauna of Tamana caves,
Living World, Journal of the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists' Club.
Michael J. Day, M. Sean Chenoweth (2004): The karstlands of Trinidad and Tobago, their land use and conservation, The Geographical Journal 170 (3): 256-266. Studies in Speleology Vol X 1995 37-50 |
| Address: | |
| Last update: | $Date: 2010/05/19 23:20:45 $ |
Tamana Caves are named after Tamana Hill (307m asl), where they are located. They are bat caves with a population of estimated 500,000 to 3 million bats. There are numerous kinds of bats, including insectivorous (insect eating), frugiverous (fruit eating), and nectivorous (honey eating) bats. There are also some so-called vampire bats, which are blood-eating. This rather rare bats are biting or scratching animals and then lick the blood flowing out of the wound, they actually do not suck like vampires.
The visitors are advised to wear long trekking pants tucked into the socks, in order to avoid to get bat guano onto the skin. The guides explain, if one had an open wound, he could get bacterial infections from the guano. Wounds should be treated with an cleanser like Detol. The cave is obviously full of a fungus called histoplasmosis, which infects the lungs. This is typical for tropic bat caves, and well known to cavers. We are not sure if putting the pants into the socks really helps, neither does jumping on one foot, so we guess that is a joke of the guides. However, most important is to be aware of histoplasmisis, as the symptoms are similar to an influenza and often misinterpreted. If accurately diagnosed it is treated simply with antibiotics and rather harmless. However, if not treated it may be lethal.
Actually it is good to keep your clothes completely closed because of the insects like cockroaches, millipedes and so on, which live on the floor. We would recommend Wellingtons, a caver overall, gloves and a mask with dust filter, which would help to avoid breathing the fungus into the lungs.
Around 17:30 in the afternoon the bats start to leave the cave to feed. This is probably the most impressive part of the visit, so if you are not visiting the cave because of the bugs, the trip is still rewarding. Unfortunately the bats fly at dawn, around 18:00 it becomes dark and so its necessary to walk back through the rainforest after dark. Be sure to have good light, appropriate shoes and dry clothes to change.
| Main Index | Caribbean Islands |
| Last updated Terms of Use, © Jochen Duckeck. |
 |
Maps Alphabetical Index |
|
Contact showcaves.com: |
|
General Information |