Berliner Höhlenkundliche Berichte, Volume 31: Mt. Suswa Lava Caves, Kenya A Project to Map and Review the Tourism Potential of Mt. Suswa’s Principal Cave Group

About this book

Language: English with trilingual abstract in English, German, and French

This report describes the extensive lava tube caves of Mt. Suswa, a dormant volcano in the Eastern Rift Valley of Kenya, known locally as “Oldoinyo Nyokie” – The Red Mountain. It is the result of a project carried out in June 2007 to map, photograph and outline a strategy for turning selected caves into show caves to attract visiting tourists. It contains detailed cave surveys, cave descriptions and colour photographs, with costed outline engineering plans for the initial development of individual caves. Background information is also provided on the history and exploration of the caves, the geology of the area and the thinking behind the tourism initiative by the indigenous Maasai community, to develop Mt. Suswa as a visitor attraction. Detailed descriptive tours through the caves are also provided, to form the basis of interpretive tours by local cave guides in the future.

Contents

Abstract / Zusammenfassung /Résumé     5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS / TEAM MEMBERS     6

1.0     INTRODUCTION     9
1.1     Setting the Scene     9
1.2     Project Objectives     9
1.3     Adopting an Idea     10
1.4     The Mount Suswa Conservation and Tourism Initiative     11

2.0     MAPPING THE CAVES     12
2.1     A History of Exploration     12
2.2     Geology of the Volcano     16
2.3     Formation of the Caves     18
2.4     Animals in the Caves     22
2.5     Human use of the Caves     22

3.0     DEVELOPING THE CAVES     22
3.1     Rationale     22
3.2     The Primary Infrastructure     23
3.3     Operation and Management     24
3.4     Health and Safety, Insurance and Liability     24

4.0     PROPOSED PROGRAMME OF ENGINEERING     25
4.1     Development of Fig Tree Cave (18)     25
4.2     Development of Thumb Cave (13)     27
4.3     Development of A Caving Adventure (14a to 18)     28
4.4     Costs     30

5.0     NARRATIVE FOR FUTURE CAVE TOURS     34
5.1     Description of Mt. Suswa     34
5.2     Maasai Myths and Legends     35
5.3     Cave Guide Training     35
5.4     A Guided Journey Through Fig Tree Cave (18)     36
5.5     A Guided Journey Through Thumb Cave (13)     42
5.6     A Caving Adventure — A Guided Journey Through Cave 14 to join Fig Tree Cave     46

6.0     REFERENCES     49

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