Harrison's Cave
Useful Information
| Location: |
In the center of the Island.
Near the southern end of Welchman Hall Gully in the Parish of St. Thomas.
|
| Open: |
All year daily 9-16.
Closed Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Christmas Day.
Tours every 15min.
[2007]
|
| Fee: |
Foreigners: Adults BBD 40, Children (13-16) BBD 20, Children (0-12) free.
Residents: Adults BBD 30, Children (13-16) BBD 15, Children (0-12) free.
[2007]
|
| Classification: |
 Karst cave,
river cave.
|
| Light: |
electric.
|
| Dimension: |
L=4,800m, T=26°C.
|
| Guided tours: |
L=1,600m.
|
| Bibliography: |
Jeanne Gurnee (1978):
A Study Of Harrison's Cave, Barbados, West Indies,
National Speleological Foundation, 32 pp illus SB
If you ever want to develop a show cave then this book tells you how to do it!
Christian Juberthie (ed), Vasile Decu (ed) (2001):
Encyclopaedia Biospeologica,
Tome 3 viii + 1375 - 2294 pp illus, some in colour. Barbados, p 32.
C. Groves, R.H. Gurnee (1995):
Structural conditions within Harrison's Cave,
A Study of Environmental Factors in Harrison's Cave, Barbados.
National Speleological Foundation, pp. 98-104.
|
| Address: |
Harrisons Cave, Welchman Hall, St. Thomas, Barbados, Tel: 246-438-6640, Fax: 246-438-6645,
E-mail: 
|
| Last update: | $Date: 2008/10/09 18:24:15 $ |
History
| | |
| 1796 | first historical references. |
| 1970 | first serious exploration by the Danish speleologist Ole Sorensen and Anthony Mason of Barbados. |
| 1974 | start of development. |
| 1981 | opened to the public. |
| 07-JUL-2006 | closed for 15 month redevelopment work. |
| 01-APR-2007 | cave opened for one month for visitors of the Cricket World Cup. New website. |
| NOV-2007 | cave reopened. |
Description
Harrison's Cave is the most famous cave on Barbados, and also the cave
with the most visitors.
Many tour operators offer trips to this cave, and so it is easy to book such a
trip from your hotel.
The cave is located in the hillcountry in the center of the island.
The cave visit starts in a small park with fig trees.
A multimedia show in the Visitor Center gives a lot of infomation on the cave,
its discovery and exploration.
The cave itself is visited using an electric tram, an engine which pulls several
trailers, which are wide enough to seat five persons in a row.
It stops at two points and the passengers are allowed to disembark and have
a closer look.
This cave visit is very comfortable but also has some drawbacks.
Although photography is allowed or even supported, which is laudably, it is
difficult from a moving tram.
It is also hard to have a closer look at the features, as the tram moves on.
And finally, the works which were necessary to allow the use of this tram were
pretty big, and altered the cave very much.
It is a sort of paved single lane road which was built through the cave, with
some massive tunneling work in the narrower passages.
But despite this drawbacks, a visit to Harrison's Cave is definitely worthwhile.
The cave shows numerous speleothems, common dripstones but also pools, dogtooth
spars and more.
Some of the formations are yellow or beige, but most of them show a beautiful
bright white.
The cave is very well lit, which brings out the character of the cave.
The cave branches out, immediately after the entrance.
Both the two main passages are toured, and as both are dead ends, it is
necessary to turn around and go back the same way.
Not really a drawback, as it gives the visitors the chance to see the cave from
the "other side", which often looks different.
The passages are rather big, halls are often 20m high.
One sight is a green lake, which provides a connection to a natural entrance.
This is the place where the cave was originally discovered.
The modern entrance is an artificial tunnel.
Another sight is a 14m high waterfall at the end of the second branch.
Harrison's Cave was maintained and developed for years by the
Gurnees, a couple with many merits in caving.
They are famous for their book about show caves in the USA (Gurnee Guide to
American Caves) and they worked on many karst areas on Carribbean Islands
and in Middle America.
Russel Gurnee was president of the National
Speleological Society (NSS) 1961 to 1963, Jeanne 1992
to 1994.
Jeanne Gurnee is a member of the Society of Woman
Geographers (SWG) since
1967 and was honored with SWG's Outstanding Achievement Award in 1987.
Today the cave is maintained by the Barbados National Trust.
In July 2006 the cave was closed for redevelopment work.
The project will take 15 months and will cost USD 34 million.
The works will include the installation of state-of-the-art trams, including one
for wheelchair-bound visitors.
Vendors' kiosks, an amphitheatre, and a car park with 114 parking spaces will be
built.
But the main idea is an ecologic vimprovement, with the installation of a water
treatment plant and the usage of rain and grey water for irrigation.
Solar power will be used to provide 30% of the cave's energy demand.
See also
