Grotte des Chauves-souris

Grotte de Chauve souris d’El Haouaria - Bat Cave

Useful Information

Location:	3 km west of El-Haouaria on the Cape Bon Tunisian Peninsula. Can be reached from the fishing villages of Kelibia and Nabeul. 60 km from Hammamet. (37.06477, 11.03011)
Open:	closed. [2025]
Fee:	closed. [2025]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	A=130 m asl.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:	(1967): Tunisie, Les Guide Bleus, 1967, p 133. V Aellen P Strinati (1979): Chauve-souris Cavernicoles de Tunisie, Mammalia Tome, 34 No 2, pp 228-236
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

1967	visited by Dr V Aellen, M Frainier and Dr P Strinati.
1993	declared a Nature Reserve.

Description

As the name كهوف الخفافيش (Grotte des Chauves-souris, Bat Cave) suggests, this cave is full of bats. As there area hundreds of bat caves all over the world we actually prefer the name Grotte de Chauve souris d'El Haouaria, which makes the name unique by adding the location. This is a natural cave higher up the mountain than the Roman Caves Mine El-Haouaria which are antique quarries. A descent of 5 m leads to a room 50 by 60 m. The cave is designated as a Nature Reserve because of the bats.

The reason why we listed this site is simply because it is listed in older travel logs and books. As tourist guides listed the site it was visited by tourists. However, this is a bat cave and bats are protected in Central Europe since the late 70s, and internationally some years later. The site was declared a Nature Preserve, and the entrance was gated. Quite exceptional is the gate, which is a sort of portal made of natural rocks with a wooden door. Over the door is the inscription Reserve Naturell Grotte de Chauves-souris in Arabic and French. And there is a huge red sculpture of a bat sitting on top of this gate. The cave is closed for years, so this page is intended to tell you not to go there even if you read about the cave in a guidebook. However, if you are in the area, the bat sculpture actually worth a small detour.

The geological background of the cave would actually be quite interesting. The Djebel d'el Haouaria consists of Numidian flysch with alternating layers of sandstone and marl, which is definitely not suitable for caves. We were not able to find out info on the cave, so we can only guess it is an erosional cave.