कोटमसर गुफा

Kutumsar Gufa - Kutumsar Cave - Kotamsar Gufa - Kotumsar Cave - Gupanpal

Useful Information

Location:	Kanger Valley National Park. 38 km from Jagdalpur. (18.869176834210542, 81.93472022019004)
Open:	Mid-OCT to mid-JUN daily 8-16. Closed during monsoon. [2024]
Fee:
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	provided/bring torch
Dimension:	L=1,371 m, VR=35 m, A=560 m asl, Tair=28 °C, Twater=26 °C.
Guided tours:	D=60 min, L=500 m, VR=35 m.
Photography:	allowed with permit
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Prof. Shanker Tiwari Ke Anveshan (2015): Kutumsar Gufa BOOKWELL, 100 pp, ISBN-10: 9380574630, ISBN-13: 978-9380574639. Jayant Biswas (2009): Kotumsar Cave biodiversity: a review of cavernicoles and their troglobiotic traits, Biodiversity and Conservation (2010) 19:275–289. DOI pdf
Address:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1900	discovered.
1951	discovered by tribals who were hunting a porcupine and followed it inside the cave.
1958	explored by geographer Shankar Prasad Tiwari.
2011	additional chamber discovered and explored.

Description

कोटमसर गुफा (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. With 330 m it would be on place 20,000, probably. But actually it is not 330 m long, even this it is nonsense. 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 further. One is talking about "India's first and the world's seventh underground cave" (we can only imagine they talk about length) and tells the cave was 35 m below ground level and 1,371 m 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". Another text, also calling it the second-longest natural cave in the world, claims its length to be 330 m. 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 in India, which very well may be an Indian urban legend, but makes visitors and cave management equally nervous. Some show caves in India have unnecessary ventilation systems.

Even the Wikipedia page, which is rather new, is full of nonsense. At the end the facts about the cave in which most sources agree are feeble. The cave is open 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.

The area is populated by indigenous people which are called tribal people. They know the cave for a long time and have several legends about the cave. At the end of the cave is a characteristic stalagmite which is revered by tribals as a Shiva Lingam, a phallic symbol of Lord Shiva.

The cave was explored by the geography Professor Dr. शंकर तिवारी (Shankar Tiwari) in the 1950s. He was supported by the local tribals, but he had no sufficient caving equipment. Nevertheless, he published a book about his discoveries. Unfortunately the authors of the webpages never read this book. We were not able to read it either, because it is written in Hindi, although there seems to be a reprint from 2015 which is sold by Amazon India.

The cave was originally named गोपंसर गुफा (Gopansar Gufa, Hidden Cave), the name कोटमसर गुफा (Kotamasar Gupha, Kotamsar Cave) has become more popular. The cave is located near a village named Kotamsar, in the valley of the कांगेर नदी (Kanger River), which is a National Park. The cave is developed with a concrete trail, which is 200 m long, but there is actually no electric light. It seems the guides place a few lamps inside, but that's more like an emergency light and not really sufficient. Visitors are equipped with handheld lamps, but all the lamps which are used are rather dull, so it is recommended to bring your own lamps, headlamps are much more comfortable than handheld. The reason why there is no light ist obviously that the cave is flooded every year during the monsoon season, which they call the "disaster season". It is between mid-June and mid-October, and the cave is closed in this time.

The cave has a cave river and several lakes which are water filled all year. It was very intensively researched for its biology. According to the nonsensical cave descriptions the caves are home to a cave fish named कप्पी ओला शंकराई (Kappi Ola Shankarai) after Prof Shankar Tiwari. It seems this is also nonsense, the fish is called Hill stream loach (Nemacheilus evezardi Day, 1872). It is common all over Asia. The cave is also home to the Fungoid Frog (Hyrophylax malabaricus).