Cueva de la Majahua

Majahua Cave - La Cueva de la Diablo - Devil's Cave


Useful Information

Location: Near Majahua, 30 min walk.
Open: no restrictions.
[2008]
Fee: free.
[2008]
Classification: SpeleologyKarst Cave
Light: bring torch
Dimension: L=60 m, VR=25 m, H=10 m, T=21 °C.
Guided tours: D=60 min.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address: Cueva de la Majahua.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
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History


Description

Cueva de la Majahua (Majahua Cave) is named after nearby village Majahua. The small village is locatd at the beach and consists mainly of sea food restaurants and other infrastructure for the beach, which is a popular outing for Zihuatanejo families. The village is reached on a dirt road from highway 200 in 25 minutes drive or one hour bus ride from Zihuatanejo.

While the main sight here is the beach, there are karstified limestone hills behind the beach covered by tropic vegetation. In a 30 minutes walk through Troncones Jungle to the top of a hill visitors reach Majahua Cave. The cave is open and visitors may visit it freely, but we highly recommend to take a guided tour. There are several tour operators which offer tours including the cave. But most locals know where the cave is located and it should be easy to find a guide. There is a trail to the cave but it is not signposted and quite overgrown in parts. If you are going on your own be carefull with the local wildlife which includes poisonous scorpions.

The cave is equipped with stairs and railing, which is why we categorized it as a show cave. However there is no electric light, but most of the cave is lighted by daylight. Actually the cave is a huge entrance portal followed by a huge enttrance chamber with the cave floor descending to the far end. There are numerous and variated speleothems, especially at the far end. Benath stalactites and stalagmites there are rimstone pools and helictites.

The wide cave portal opening southwards and the downslope of the passage allows sunlight to shine deep into the cave. As a result many speleothems in the entrance area are covered by green algae. A prominent stalagmite deep in the cave, located in the middle of the passage, is hit by the sunlight only at certain times of the year, when the height of the sun has the right angle.

The Mountain of Mahajua is a karst tower which looks like a single temple building standing atop an Aztec pyramid. The area is mainly limestone with patches of volcanic deposits, which were created by volcanic eruptions at the time the limestone was deposited. The surfaces of the limestone boulders show typical rillenkarren, a sign of the chemical weathering of the limestone.

But while the hill itself is natural, there are important human remains to be found. Several pictographs carved into the cave wall at the far end of the cave can be seen. The are not dated but generally they are thought to originate from the people which were named Tarascan by the Spanish. Today they are called Purepecha, and their empire flourished to the north and inland of the cave between 1100 AD and 1530 AD.