| Location: |
28km from Oudtshoorn, Klein Karoo Kannaland, Western Cape.
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| Open: |
All year daily 9-16.
Closed on Christmas Day.
Standard Tours: hourly on the hour, first at 9 and last at 16.
Adventure Tours: hourly on the half hour, first at 9:30 and last at 15:30.
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| Fee: |
|
| Classification: |
 Karst cave.
|
| Light: |
electric.
|
| Dimension: |
L=5,320m, T=18°C.
|
| Guided tours: |
Two different tours are offered.
Standard Tours: D=60min.
Adventure Tours: D=90min.
D=120min.
|
| Bibliography: |
Professor E D Mountain (1970):
How Nature Fashioned,
The Cango Caves,
15 pp, 3 photos, 1 survey. SB
Interesting little book. The survey is in Afrikaans, but the rest of the book is in English.
Members of the South African Speleological Association (1970):
Cango,
the story of the Cango Caves of South Africa
about 77 pp, 14 plates.
Well written account. HB DW
Anne Landsman (1997):
The Devil's Chimney: A Novel,
Soho Press (October 1, 1997), hardcover 292 pp, ISBN: 1569471010
 amazon.com
S.A. Craven (1999):
Land values around Cango Cave, South Africa, in the 19th century,
Cave and Karst Science, Vol 26(3) pp 127-128.
abstracts
S.A. Craven (2002):
The impact of Cango Cave on the economy of Oudtshoorn, South Africa,
Cave and Karst Science, Vol 29 (1) pp 45-46.
abstracts
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| Address: |
Cango Caves, PO BOX 255, Oudtshoorn 6620, Tel: +27-44-272-7410, Fax: +27-44-2728001.
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| Last update: | $Date: 2008/07/01 20:33:20 $ |
| | |
| 1780 | discovered by Klaas Windvogel, a herder in search of lost cattle. |
| 11-JUL-1780 | first exploration by Jacobus van Zyl, the teacher Barend Oppel and the discoverer Windvogel. |
| 1891 | first tour conducted through the Cango Caves, the first guide was Johnny van Wassenaar. |
| 1972-1975 | Cango 2, 3, 4 and 5 discovered nearby. |
The cave shows magnificent dripstone formations.
The dimenstions of the cave are impressive too.
Being more than 5km long, it contains the largest underground chamber in the
country, measuring 220 x 35 x 35 m.
Cango Cave is the most visited show cave in South Africa.
It is on the schedule of nearly each tour operator, especially for foreign
tourists.
But the number of visitors went down to 236,000 in 2002, from 247,000 visitors
in 1997, due to beggars and a local crime wave.
