Exploring the Sunken Cave of Ghar Mirdum
The story of the cave
Back in the 60's rumors of a cave complex located in the south of Malta had pickled some interest to the Scout group. On the 16th November 1964, the cave was found and a set of complicated expeditions were started to explore this complex which appeared to be never ending!
Location
Located in the South Cliffs of Malta, Ghar Mirdum is the only one of a kind on the Island. It is a cave system that has suffered some severe damage over the years due to a near by quarry that used explosives to cut rock. SHAME!
The last I have been in this cave is 7 years ago and back then I swore that I'd never come back. The cave has suffered a great deal of damage over the years and friends that have visited the cave in recent days even confirmed that there were some rockfalls blocking some paths.
The Entrances
There are 2 entrances to the cave, one one the East side and one on the west side.
The West Entrance
The west side is very difficult to spot as it appears to be just a hole in the ground between rubble.
This entrance is not for everyone, there are very tight squeezes with loose rock!
The first time I went inside this cave was through this entrance. We didn't have any camera smartphones at that time but it was spectacular nontheless!
The East Entrance
I love this entrance. It is a natural beauty! Everytime me and @rooddzy go hiking round the area I always jump inside the hole for a picture :)
The entrance is located between 2 natural stone walls and under a couple of big rocks
Going in
Entering the East Entrance one will notice some graffiti done over the years, some date back to 1970's.
Accessing chamber G requires the first rope abseil. It is a short abseil, about 8-10meters, it cannot be climbed down.
Once you go down, you find yourself in a big open cave. you can easily spot rockfalls since the stalactites are upside down! I was one of the first to go down.
We were a group of 4 and wanted to help and secure the others coming down, so I stayed at the bottom of the line. At that point when looking up I noticed that their head torch lights were penetrating through the rocks. It showed how very was under their feet!
Chamber M
Access to the chamber M is through a lovely little hole.
We did not proceed further because we felt our ground very lose and had second thoughts!
What we found
Along the way we found some cola bottles dating well back in time! A nice photo opportunity and left them there for the next visitor.
Chamber H/J
We decided to skip this for the day since we had spent alot of time wonder around and was time to head back.
The sun
Stepping out of the dark cave into the Maltese sun cannot be described with words. The weather was amazing and it shows!
Relics found in the cave
The cave is known to have been habitable. Various relics were found, even the skeleton of a boy!
You can read more about the crazy adventure of the first explorers on the link below. It is meticulously described and a great read!
http://shurdington.org/gharmirdum/index.html
(Source of image www.timesofmalta.com)
@alexbeyman have a look :)
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Amazing post, I wish I could go in but the rockfalls put me off!!
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Very nice post man, I enjoyed going through it a lot!
It looks very scarey, definitely not for the faint hearted.
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Looks like an amazing adventure beats all the caves I've ever been in.
its a really big complex and used to be much bigger before the quarry explosives did so much damage to it. The rock is very frail in the area and caused huge rockfalls
Wonderful post- not an activity I could do myself though, far too claustrophobic!
May I suggest you check out @brianphobos - I think you would like his blog, he talks about crypto and likes jumping off cliffs.
hehe yeah this one is a killer. been to various tight caves around the world but this one adds the lose rock and dust to the equation.
Thank you for the profile , will def have a look