Karst cave
| Location: | Kanger Valley National Park. 38km from Jagdalpur |
| Open: | |
| Fee: | |
| Classification: |
Karst cave
|
| Light: | provided/bring torch |
| Dimension: | L=1,371m. |
| Guided tours: | L=330m, VR=35m. |
| Photography: | |
| Accessibility: | |
| Bibliography: | |
| Address: | Kutumsar Gufa, Tel: +91-, Fax: +91-, |
| Last update: | $Date: 2011/12/13 08:57:33 $ |
| 1900 | discovered. |
Kutumsar Gufa (Kutumsar Cave) is really astonishing. Being 330 meters long, it is the longest natural cave of the world! Having in mind that the longest cave of the world is Mammoth Cave in the U.S.A. which is some 572 kilometers long, we really giggled when reading this. There are numerous sources on the web about this cave, most seem to be copies of the same unintentionally funny text. Other texts are obfuscating the cave description. One is talking about "India's first and the world's seventh underground cave" (we can only imagine they mean length) and tells the cave was 35m below ground level and 1371m long. Another text calls it "the world's second longest natural caves", but we have no idea what they mean when they talk about "several blind wells". A text also calling it the second longest natural cave in the world claims its length to be 330m. One says "Kotumsar Caves are the caves which are about 2 km (1 mi) deep" and despite the fact that the conversion rate between kilometers and miles is somewhat strange, we are sure the caves are not that deep, we guess they also talk about the length.
But the most funny story tells about the lack of oxygen deep inside the cave, as the reason for access restrictions. There are various reasons for such a dangerous situation, normally a high amount of carbon dioxide which forms "lakes" in lower sections. This may happen in karst caves, but is extremely uncommon. Long time ago there was an accident with people suffocating in a cave, which very well may be an Indian urban legend, but makes visitors and cave management equally nervous. Many show caves in India have unnecessary ventilation systems.
At the end the facts about the cave in which most sources agree are dense. The cave is only on guided tours by National Park guards, self guided tours are not possible. The guides provide lamps, but it is recommended to bring your own. The guides take visitors in their 4wd to the parking at the cave entrance. From here stairs lead up to the cave entrance in the hillside and inside are more steep steps, so sturdy shoes are advisable. The cave seems to be rather high but often narrow, and the tour visits five subsequent chambers with good acoustics. There are cave lakes containing blind fish and frogs.
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