In recent years, Zimbabwe topped the list as the world’s poorest nation. Despite financial struggles for its people on land, a richness remains largely undiscovered: The Chinhoyi Caves. These caves have both a legendary and dark history as well as a potentially bright future for the tourism industry and economy of the local community. Scuba divers looking for deep water cave diving opportunities must consider exploring the charted–and uncharted–sites in the exotic Chinhoyi Caves of Zimbabwe.
Geogaphically, the Chinhoyi Caves are situated about 120 miles from Zimbabwe’s capital city of Harare (Coordinates: Latitude 17°-20° S; Longitude 30° E). Historically, excavations in and near the Caves have revealed that people have stayed in them as far back as A.D 650. The pottery from the area of excavation is called the Chinhoyi Tradition of the early Iron Age and is found between Chinhoyi and Kariba as well. The first white man attributed with the discovery of the Chinhoyi Caves was Selous, a famous European hunter, who explored them during his wandering travels in the late 19th century. At that time, popular belief stands that the caves were being used as a stronghold by a murderous outlaw named Nyamakwere who threw his victims into the cave’s silent pool, which is now named “The Sleeping Pool”. Eventually, the notorious Nyamakwere was killed by a herdsman called Chinhoyi who became a Mashona Chief, and founded the nearby Chinhoyi Town. Chinhoyi and his followers used the Caves as a refuge from invading tribes and, until a few years ago, the remains of the chief Chinhoyi’s grain bins could be seen in some of the underground passages.
Although now commonly known as just the Chinhoyi Caves, which marks its geographic location nearby the town, the traditional name for the caves is “Chirorodziva.” Translated, this name means “Pool of the Fallen,” which, as history suggests, the caves have a long past of serving as a graveyard for many victims of war and accidental death. In recent years, however, all of the dangerous sites have been fenced in order to safeguard visitors to the caves from joining in the fate of so many others who were pushed or fell into the waters. In fact, the area around the caves is now designated as a Recreational Park instead of a victims’ graveyard.
What is of particular interest to many geologists and divers is the fact that the Chinhoyi Caves is a dying system of caverns; they are slowly collapsing and have been for millions of years. Over long periods in history, the movement of the cave’s underground water weakened the cohesive forces that held the limestone rock particles together. This caused the forming of underground caverns and tunnels, some of which eventually collapsed to form sink holes. These sinkholes and depressions are easily spotted even before plunging into its waters. Inside, dive sites reveal the largest of these sinkholes and depressions, known as “The Wonder Hole” and “The Swallow Hole,” basically large caverns with collapsed roofs. The walls within these sites plunge down for about 50 meters into “The Sleeping Hole,” although dive depths vary depending on actual rainfall.
“The Sleeping Hole,” touted as the country’s most dramatic tourist attraction, actually has marked depths of 80-120 meters and is the indicator of water levels within the region’s sites. Here, the water is unbelievably blue and crystal clear among the non-flowing, deep water cavern–in fact; the water is so clear that visitors standing on the shoreline can see fish and rock formations many meters below the surface. Water temps hover around 22C within the caves. The dive sites are sunlit, making the little bit of fish life that exists in the caves visible to divers. The main attraction, though, is the visually breathtaking rock formations. The stalactites and stalagmites of the caves and caverns bring divers back to the site again and again for more deep water diving opportunities. Several underwater passages have been found leading from the Sleeping Pool, but research divers who have been explored them believe that most or all actually lead back to the main pool eventually–although the researchers also concluded that there is more to be explored. Some believe that the site is actually connected to another and even larger body of water. For visitors unable to make it down the many steps to the Sleeping Pool, there is a nice opportunity to take photographs from the aerial views far above the landmark in a protected, fenced area.
In addition to the main site of “The Sleeping Hole,” a second dive site is the artificially lit “Dark Cave.” This cave has three outlets. One of the outlets leads to a small cavern accessible only to divers (not snorkelers) and is known as the "Blind Cave". A second outlet connects back to The Sleeping Pool at a depth of 58 meters below the surface. The third outlet remains unexplored and uncharted. Near the end of the Dark Cave is a small annex to The Sleeping Pool known as the “Cave of the Bats.”
Probably, the stories you tell about diving Zimbabwe’s Chinhoyi Caves will be dismissed as exaggerated legend when you return. But if your fellow divers can’t live vicariously through your cavernous stories, perhaps you’ll just have to push them into the waters, too!