Visit GARAMA CAVES

The dynamic Garama caves are 342 meters long and 14 meters deep which brings about darkness all the time in the caves and going deeper in the caves one needs to have a flashlight to enable vision. The caves were inhabited by the Batwa people 500,000 years prior until recently when they were resettled and the caves were gazetted as a tourist attraction area by the Uganda government through the Uganda Wildlife Authority. These stiff caves improve the experience of tourists who visit Mgahinga National Park.

A perfunctory history of Garama caves.

These unworried caves were traditionally Batwa homesteads and they were a community where these pygmy people settled for decades. The caves are nestled in the former farmland of Batwa. The Batwa are famous for their hunting and food-gathering skills in these natural areas especially impenetrable forests. Cultural ceremonies were also conducted in these cordial caves and this made them a sacred ground that was not to be tampered with by other neighboring societies. So, the caves were also hiding grounds in times of conflict with neighboring communities, especially the Bantu people who from time to time carried out raids on the plantations and catches of Batwa.

Formation of Garama caves.

The well-built Garama caves were formed after repeated processes of dissolution of limestone. Rainwater through the volcanoes in Mgahinga picked up carbon dioxide from the air as it percolated through the weathered rocks.

This subsequently turned into a weak acid and it slowly dissolved out of the limestone along the joints in the weak rocks, bedding planes and fractures. It is some of these that became enlarged to form the present-day Garama caves. Other natural processes of weathering and growth of vegetation and a mixture of some human activities gave the caves their present-day look.

Location of Garama caves.

These stable caves are nestled in the Southwest of Uganda in the high-powered Mgahinga National Park. They are underneath a plateau as you approach the northern edge of the National Park. They are just three kilometres from the Ntebeko Park entrance.

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The uniqueness of Garama caves

These magnificent curves acted as a house for the Batwa monarch and a visit to the caves gives you a glimpse of how the kings used to live back in the day. This is due to the paintings on the walls of the caves that communicate things that the Batwa can read and interpret for visitors.

The caves also have an exhilarating history that keeps them outstanding and a lot of stories told by the indigenous people offer visitors a glimpse into what the early lives of Africans were.

Batwa euphoric music dance and drama also set the caves apart, this is because of the various songs that the women sing that remind them of the days they were sent out of the caves, stories and other folklore that also gives visitors unusual experiences.

The length and width of the cave further make it unique and is one of the longest and largest in Africa.

ATTRACTIONS IN GARAMA CAVES

The long caves are an outstanding attraction for tourists all over the globe, especially the photographers, and archaeologists who travel to this place to find more about the history of human beings.

The caves have sacred grounds within them where the indigenous people used to carry out religious traditional ceremonies and sacrifices and these are a great attraction since the local people tell stories in line with what was done back then as they commemorate the deeds of their forefathers.

It is in Garama caves that you get to reach the highest point of Mgahinga National Park which offers breathtaking views of the nearby surroundings of the hills and valleys in patterns as they connect to the skies through clouds which is worth a visitor’s time.

ACTIVITIES DONE IN GARAMA CAVES

Visitors get to engage and interact with the indigenous Batwa cultural groups who tell them more about their ways of life and teach them on how they used to hunt and gather fruits in the wilderness and such experiences are worthwhile.

These are possible because of the highland areas around the caves and the various vegetation that provides ambient grounds for compelling nature walks that visitors tend to find worth the effort.

Being situated in Mgahinga National Park, a lot of visitors tend to combine their trips to Garama with a little bit of gorilla tracking to enhance the experience.

Garama caves are just 14 kilometers South of Kisoro town and they can be accessed by road up to the Ntebeko entrance of Mgahinga National Park, the outstanding caves are just about 3 kilometers into the park.