Botswana Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data), CC BY 4.0, with relief shading from Copernicus WorldDEM-30
The descent
The entrance, at 942 m.
The real relief above Gcwihaba caves, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
942m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
24°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
Inside and outside
24 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 24 °C here, in January and in August. In October the afternoon reaches 37 °C at the entrance, 13 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from August to May. The wettest months are from December to March: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 33°21°Jan
- 32°20°Feb
- 32°20°Mar
- 31°17°Apr
- 29°12°May
- 26°10°Jun
- 26°8°Jul
- 30°11°Aug
- 34°16°Sep
- 37°20°Oct
- 36°22°Nov
- 34°22°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Bat guano deposits
Gcwihaba caves is a cave in Botswana. The entrance is at 942 m. It has an underground river.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Maun International Airport (MUB)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 53 km in a straight lineCar hire in MaunDiscover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The water
The Gomoti River runs highest from January to February.
The Gomoti River carries about 1.5 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from January to February. It is lowest from May to November.
- 5.4 m³/sJan
- 5.4 m³/sFeb
- 4.1 m³/sMar
- 2.1 m³/sApr
- 0.9 m³/sMay
- 0.6 m³/sJun
- 0.5 m³/sJul
- 0.5 m³/sAug
- 0.5 m³/sSep
- 0.6 m³/sOct
- 1.3 m³/sNov
- 3.4 m³/sDec
From about 0.52 m³/s in the lowest month to 5.4 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 2,628 km².
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 2campsites within 8 kmBlack Pool BOGA, Tawana Lodge
- 2hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmRraDinare, Starling Lodge
- other cave entrances within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- viewpoints within 3 km
- marked hiking routes within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- car parks within 2 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 33 | 32 | 32 | 31 | 29 | 26 | 26 | 30 | 34 | 37 | 36 | 34 |
| Afternoon | 33 | 32 | 32 | 31 | 29 | 26 | 26 | 30 | 34 | 37 | 36 | 34 |
| Night | 21 | 20 | 20 | 17 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 16 | 20 | 22 | 22 |
| Rain (mm) | 130 | 104 | 75 | 27 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 51 | 106 |
| Rainy days | 20 | 17 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 17 |
| Sun hours/day | 8.8 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 9.4 | 10.3 | 9.9 | 10.1 | 10.4 | 10.4 | 10.1 | 8.8 | 8.4 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 33 | 33 | 21 | 130 | 8.8 |
| Feb | 32 | 32 | 20 | 104 | 8.4 |
| Mar | 32 | 32 | 20 | 75 | 8.5 |
| Apr | 31 | 31 | 17 | 27 | 9.4 |
| May | 29 | 29 | 12 | 2 | 10.3 |
| Jun | 26 | 26 | 10 | 2 | 9.9 |
| Jul | 26 | 26 | 8 | 0 | 10.1 |
| Aug | 30 | 30 | 11 | 0 | 10.4 |
| Sep | 34 | 34 | 16 | 2 | 10.4 |
| Oct | 37 | 37 | 20 | 14 | 10.1 |
| Nov | 36 | 36 | 22 | 51 | 8.8 |
| Dec | 34 | 34 | 22 | 106 | 8.4 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (942 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 66% | 92% | 84% | 65% | — | — | — | — | — | 2% | 165% | 163% |
| 2021 | 439% | 207% | 60% | 40% | — | — | — | — | — | 187% | 53% | 83% |
| 2022 | 104% | 6% | 278% | 182% | — | — | — | — | — | 91% | 95% | 91% |
| 2023 | 49% | 130% | 96% | 6% | — | — | — | — | — | 32% | 53% | 85% |
| 2024 | 141% | 10% | 44% | 127% | — | — | — | — | — | 54% | 121% | 121% |
| 2025 | 153% | 190% | 38% | 222% | — | — | — | — | — | 29% | 243% | 198% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q29905437) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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