Seru di kueba 20150115 053 smallOn Thursday January 15, 2015, the archaeology sleuths went way back in time. The target was Seru di kueba in the former plantation of Sint Hyronimus, although the area is commonly known as Wacao. This mountain is known for its fossils. The rock is formed underwater in the Eocene period and contains a lot of fossils. These fossils are at least 33.9 million years old (end of eocene periode) but can be as old as 56 million years (start of eoceen period). The mountain contains a lot of shallow caves, the sides of which look like compressed sandstone.
We had permission from the owners of the plantation and there were no shooting exercises in the area. We entered the plantation through the gate, changed into the 4x4 cars of some of the sleuths and drove in the direction of the mountain. Luckily the dirtroad was in good condition and we could easily reach the top of the Seru di Kueba. There we parked our cars and started our hike.

We descended along the South-Eastern side of the mountain; rather steep but doable. Greatest problem was the unstable underground and rocks that easily crumbled under our weight. We took our first break to enjoy the view and to eat coconut and apple. At some locations there was an abundance of fossils while at other places we found none. We continued our hike through a roi; there we saw many fossils. Then once again uphill where we took another break on a small subtop. We had to keep our bags close to us to prevent them from rolling down the hill. At this point we split; Karel, Fred and I went via a different route than the others. At one point along that route we could clearly smell bats. A short time later we found a small opening that probably was the entrance/exit of a small cave. The opening was too small for us to enter the cave. Interestingly enough the ceiling of this cave was white and consisted of phosphate. We didin't see any bats though.

The two groups came together on the top where our cars were parked. From there we drove first in the direction of the coast to check an old observation post, probably in use during the shooting exercises, and then went back to the entrance where the other cars were parked. After thanking the owners for the permission to enter the area we went to Dokterstuin where we celebrated Eddy's birthday with a nice meal and drinks.

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