Chinhoyi Caves
The cave system is composed of limestone and dolomite. The main cave contains a pool of cobalt blue water, which is popularly called Sleeping Pool or Chirorodziva (“Pool of the Fallen”), located in North Central Zimbabwe. Divers have discovered a submarine passage leading from the Bat Cave, a sub-chamber of the Dark Cave to another room known as the Blind Cave. The local name for the cave’s pool, Chirorodziva comes from an incident that occurred in 1830, where members of the Angonni tribe attacked the local people and threw their victims into the cave to dispose of them. These limestone caves were first described by Frederick Courtney Selous in 1888.
The Chinhoyi Caves are located about 9 kilometres north-west of the town of Chinhoyi, in the Mashonaland West administrative province, 120 kilometres from the capital city of Harare in Zimbabwe. The Chinhoyi Caves are one of Zimbabwe’s seven Ramsar sites. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands provides a framework for wetland conservation and asks that nations promote the sustainable utilization and conservation of wetlands.
The site is approximately 8 hectares in size. It is a rare, unique near natural Karst wetland. The Caves consist of a system of tunnels and caverns and are the most extensive cave system in Zimbabwe that the public can access. The cave has a “Wonder Hole”, which is the main feature, and is in fact a “Swallow Hole” or a large cavern with a collapsed roof. The walls or sides of the Wonder Hole drop vertically down for approximately 150 feet to the Sleeping Pool. The water in the Sleeping Pool remains at a constant 22 degrees Celsius throughout the year. It is so phenomenally clear that silver-hued fish and underwater rock formations can be seen many metres below the surface.
The caves have an important place in African Traditional Religion, with the caves themselves as a site for rainmaking, surrounded by a sacred forest, from which trees could not be felled. Chinhoyi caves are the most extensive cave system in Zimbabwe that the public can access.
Diving is possible in the caves all year round, with temperatures never beyond the 22 to 24 °C (72 to 75 °F) range with zero thermocline. Visibility is high, and 50 metres and above is not unusual. This site is often visited by diving expedition teams of technical divers that perform ultra-deep diving. It is not uncommon for dives in excess of 100 metres to be made here by experienced technical divers. A campsite and motel, run by ZimParks, are located on-site.
