Cueba Bosa 20141023 010 smallOn Thursday a small group of the archaeology sleuths went back to Cueba Bosá; last time we went into each of the three caves and saw from inside a number of windows in the ceiling of the caves. A GPS does not work in a cave so we didn't have exact locations of most windows. Only in cave 3 I had taken some waypoints standing under the opening. But the accuracy of the GPS is lacking if not many satellites can be seen. So the plan for this visit was to investigate on top of the caves.
We gathered once again at 8 AM at the parking lot of the Christoffel park; from there we went with one car to the caves. Initially we were with only 4 people, Karel Aster, Eddy, Fred and I but later also Gisette joined us.

First we tried to get better waypoints of the entrance of each of the caves; Eddy stayed at the entrance level while Karel, Fred and I went on top of the caves (better signal for the GPS). We located each of the entrances by calling out to Eddy and then positioning ourselfs opposite him as close to the edge as we dared. There Fred and I took a waypoint.
After taking a waypoint of the entrance of cave 1 we checked window 1 of this cave; that is located very close to the entrance. Surprisingly enough we found some stalactites on the surface; that strengthened our idea that the windows were used to get the excavated guano out of the cave. When we saw boreholes in the side of window 1 it was clear that this window was created with explosives.

After this was done Eddy joined us on top of the caves. We started with cave 3. This cave has 4 windows. First we went to window 1 of this cave. After taking a waypoint at window 1 we went to the second window. Last time we left the cave through this window. This time Karel, Eddy and Gisette entered the cave while Fred and I investigated the remaining windows of this cave.

Fred and I decided to go from the last window of cave three to the largest window in cave 2. That was easier said than done. Large fields of Prickly pear cacti and also several Wabi and Palu di lele trees made it not easy to progress. To make it even worse also Bringamosa was present. But we made our way to this large window.
This window has a similar structure as the others but on a larger scale. The opening at the surface is quite large but when you go inside the window you will reach a horizontal terrace in which the actual much smaller window into the cave can be found. Fred went to the terrace, I stayed on top.

From there we first went to the smaller window 1 of this cave and from there to the other two windows more to the end of the cave. The fields of Prickly pear cacti were here even worse so we had to create a path to safely pass. But even then we both got a lot of spines in our legs, hands and feet. But that is part of the risk of walking through the mondi.

After taking the remaining two waypoints we went back to cave three and from there to the parking lot where the others were waiting for us. Fred and I took our apple break which we had skipped to work as quickly as possible through all of the windows.
On our way back to the entrance we made a detour to visit Boca Grandi, a very impressive bay at the Northern side.

Back at the parking lot Karel offered us a drink; we went to Trio Pinotti for this and that concluded a special hike; not very interesting from a nature or achaeology standpoint but important to accurately locate the windows in the caves and from this information to exactly position the map from this cave on the topographical maps made by Werbata and Kadaster.

  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_001Map of the three caves with on this map the waypoints at the windows of the caves
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_002Entrance of cave 1
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_003On top of the caves
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_004Stalactites on the surface; an indication that possibly the extraction of guana took place through the windows
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_006boreholes in the side of this window; this window is made with explosives
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_007Cave 3, window 1
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_008Gisette came later but was able to find us
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_010Horizontal window into cave 3 (part of window 2)
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_013Karel, Eddy and Gisette went through this window into the cave
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_015Two small horizontal windows (part of window 2 of cave 3)
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_018Inside of a horizontal terrace around window 2
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_023Opposite side of the horizontal window into cave 3
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_024Cave 3 window 3
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_025Eddy and Karel are visible through window 3
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_028Cave 3 window 4 with a large tree growing from the floor of the cave
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_029Bringamosa; we had to be careful where to walk
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_031Hanging cactus; be careful with your head
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_032Fred enters the large window in cave 2 (window 2)
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_035A tree is a handy support while descending into this window
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_037Almost at the terrace around window 2
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_038Cave 2 window 1
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_044Cave 2 window 3 at the end of this cave
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_045Back together as a group
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_046Boca Grandi
  • Cueba_Bosa_20141023_048Panoramic view of Boca Grandi and the Christoffel mountain