Cango Caves — Attraction in George

My partner and I visited the Cango Caves when travelling the Garden Route from Cape Town to Knysna. They are just on the outside of Oudtshoorn, and are easily found. The visitor centre is large, featuring a restaurant, café, shop, tourist information centre, and more. We visited mid-week out of the holidays, but it was still very busy, so our group was split into two. I would advise emailing and pre-booking in advance if you have a schedule to keep to.

Once checked in, we waited for our tour to begin. You start off at the mouth of the cave, where the tour guides introduce themselves and the caves, explaining a brief history of how long they have been around, as well as health and safety. Once into the first chamber, you are kept in low light while the guide explains more about the caves and how they were formed. I have to say, our tour guide was absolutely fantastic, with the right balance of history, fact, and wit. She kept our entire group of 30+ entertained and informed throughout the 1-hour historic tour with great ease.

Once she “gets the lights,” you are really hit with how awe-inspiring the place is – it’s truly magnificent. Formed over millions of years, the caves are vast and complex, with a variety of different chambers to explore. We saw stalactites and stalagmites of all shapes and sizes, some of them literally towering over us. It’s quite hard to comprehend how long it has taken for these caves to form – and how long they will be around for long after we’re gone. Even though it’s hard to pinpoint a highlight as the whole experience was incredible, the first chamber really does blow your mind when you see it in full light.

The whole experience is truly magical and was one of the highlights of our two-week trip to South Africa. It’s something that will live with me for the rest of my life, and I would 100% recommend visiting the Cango Caves if in South Africa –...

Cango caves. Did one hour guided Heritage Tour of cango Caves. Right at the visitors Center there is a schematic map of the caves. According to this map our tour took us up to a place called Drum Room. On the way, as per the map, we saw, two halls, Van Zyl's and Botha's. Two chambers, Rainbow and Bridal. One Fairy Land. And finally to Drum Room. Halls are fairly big in area and with high ceiling. Chambers are comparatively Small, both in size and height. Return was almost by the same route. This time without loitering, straight to the exit. Fantastic deposits of all types, of various sizes, small to gigantic. Shapes from delicate to extremely robust. Simple straightforward to extremely Complicated.Straight down to twisted at all angles. No wonder it has taken millions of years to reach this stage. Mind boggling Human imagination has seen various, objects, birds, animals, buildings etc in these shapes. Some one must have called the name for the first time, the names stuck. There is needle, Pulpit. grand organ, Throne Room, Giant Eagle feeding its chick etc etc all through the cave. All these very well and imaginatively lit by coloured lights. Looks awesomely beautiful. Truly a fairyland settings and unforgettable experience. Had taken lots of photographs. Putting them up on album, there was no was way I could caption, leave alone individual photos, I could not even say to which hall or chamber the photos belonged. I do not like to leave things halfway. Searched the net, found photos, information and captioned the photos to the best of my ability. Hopefully I have not made great blunders in captioning. Any error...

We recently did the Heritage Tour at the Cango Caves. It was really great. Our guide, Nazley, is incredible! She is multilingual, conversing with everyone in their mother tongue, including international visitors from countries like Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany. Apart from her incredible memory, knowing who to speak to in what language, Nazley was super entertaining and a well of information. The caves themselves are simply indescribable. One can try and describe, photograph, and take videos of the formations, but nothing will come close to seeing it in person. Luckily, the well-maintained facilities, walkways, efficient setup, and friendly staff make that possible for most people. My parents, both in their late 70s, managed very well. The tour is also child-friendly, but I must say, if they offered a kid-free tour, I'd go on that one, even if it cost a bit more. The road to the caves is a beautiful thing on its own. The area is well-signposted, and there's lots of secure parking with parking attendants. There's a convenience store for drinks and snacks, a waiting area with lovely views and picnic tables, a restaurant, and clean restrooms. The walls are hung with posters and information boards so one can learn a lot while passing time before the next tour starts. Tours happen on the hour. Ours lasted almost 90 minutes. There's also a gift and curio shop (priced for visitors with...