Krem Mawsmai

Krem Phyllut - Krem Maw Smai

Useful Information

Location:	At Mawsmai, 6 km south of Cherrapunjee market. (25.245639824857406, 91.72403939040845)
Open:	All year daily 9:30-17:30. [2023]
Fee:	Adults INR 20, Children INR 10. Photo Permit: Camera INR 20, Video INR 50. [2023]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	L=4,503 m.
Guided tours:	L=250 m, self guided.
Photography:	Allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Mawsmai Cave, Cherrapunji, Meghalaya 793108, India
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

2004	cave opened to the public.

Description

Krem Mawsmai or Krem Maw Smai (Oath Stone Cave) was the first show cave in Meghalaya, at first it was the only one equipped with electric light. All other caves are wild caves which are visited in cave trekking tours. However, the touristic development first of all resulted in a (in)famous sign, which is now published in various caving magazines. The text goes as follows, with stars marking unreadable letters:

Warning
Visitors to the cave are requested to follow the following steps:

do not throw rubbish inside the cave.
do not take any piece of rock, plug any flowers, break branches of trees from *** **** ist surrounding area.
drinking of alcohol breaking or throwing bottle inside or outside the cave are not allowed.
visitors are not allowed to cause troubles or fight and speaking dirty and filthy words.
visitors are not allowed to dirty the pond or go for toilet in the surrounding jungle.

Those found violating the above instructions they are liable to be punished by the village d*arbar
** order Sird*r Mawsmai

All in all a list of important and comprehensible rules which are intended to save the cave. You may decide yourself, why cavers and visitors find this sign funny.

Beneath the start of cave tourism in Meghalaya, this is a really impressive cave. It has fine speleothems and is the resource of a big river - fortunately only the dry, fossil level is visited. The cave has some narrow and low spots, and the trail regularly crosses flowstone, as there is almost no developed trail.

Cheerapunji received the highest amount of rainfall in the world, every year for more than a century. Lately it was defeated by Mawsynram, but we will see. The result of such an amount of rain water in combination with moderate temperature is karstification, solution, at an enormous amount, producing huge and impressive caves. Krem Mawsmai with a total length of two kilometres is one of the small caves in Meghalaya.