Afghanistan Cave World Heritage
Qoul-I Akram Caves
7 °C inside, all year.
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 2,554 m.
The real relief above Qoul-I Akram 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.
2,554m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
7°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
230m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
7 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 7 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 26 °C at the entrance, 20 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The wettest months are from February to April: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 0°-13°Jan
- 2°-12°Feb
- 8°-4°Mar
- 14°1°Apr
- 20°4°May
- 24°7°Jun
- 26°9°Jul
- 26°8°Aug
- 22°5°Sep
- 15°1°Oct
- 8°-3°Nov
- 3°-10°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.
Caves in Afghanistan
Qoul-I Akram Caves is a cave in Afghanistan. The entrance is at 2,554 m. It has an underground river. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Bāmyānnearest town · 2.7 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 1.3 km from the entrance
- Kabul International Airport (KBL)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 132 km in a straight line
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 the river runs highest from March to April.
The the river carries about 2.1 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from March to April, fed by melting snow. It is lowest from July to December.
- 4.0 m³/sJan
- 6.1 m³/sFeb
- 13 m³/sMar
- 13 m³/sApr
- 9.2 m³/sMay
- 3.5 m³/sJun
- 0.8 m³/sJul
- 0.1 m³/sAug
- 0.2 m³/sSep
- 0.2 m³/sOct
- 0.6 m³/sNov
- 0.8 m³/sDec
From about 0.11 m³/s in the lowest month to 13 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 955 km².
Follow the Kunduz River from source to mouth on Riveryas
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.
- 2other cave entrances within 3 kmKalai Ghamai Caves, Qoul-I Akram Caves
- 1viewpoints within 3 km
- 1car parks within 2 km
- 12hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmAgha Khan Guest House, Garzandoi Guest House, Governor's Guest House and 9 more
- 3restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- marked hiking routes within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 km
- campsites within 8 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).
Towns nearby
- Bāmyān2.7 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Qoul-I Akram Caves.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Riveryas2 rivers at the entrance
Peakyas20 mountains within 10 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 0 | 2 | 8 | 14 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 15 | 8 | 3 |
| Afternoon | 0 | 2 | 8 | 14 | 20 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 22 | 15 | 8 | 3 |
| Night | -13 | -12 | -4 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 1 | -3 | -10 |
| Rain (mm) | 35 | 40 | 50 | 45 | 25 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 28 | 22 |
| Rainy days | 6 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Sun hours/day | 5.9 | 6.0 | 7.3 | 8.0 | 10.4 | 12.9 | 13.3 | 12.9 | 12.0 | 9.9 | 6.5 | 5.7 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 19 | 22 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 16 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 0 | 0 | -13 | 35 | 5.9 |
| Feb | 2 | 2 | -12 | 40 | 6.0 |
| Mar | 8 | 8 | -4 | 50 | 7.3 |
| Apr | 14 | 14 | 1 | 45 | 8.0 |
| May | 20 | 20 | 4 | 25 | 10.4 |
| Jun | 24 | 24 | 7 | 11 | 12.9 |
| Jul | 26 | 26 | 9 | 9 | 13.3 |
| Aug | 26 | 26 | 8 | 9 | 12.9 |
| Sep | 22 | 22 | 5 | 10 | 12.0 |
| Oct | 15 | 15 | 1 | 12 | 9.9 |
| Nov | 8 | 8 | -3 | 28 | 6.5 |
| Dec | 3 | 3 | -10 | 22 | 5.7 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (2,554 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 | 58% | 67% | 381% | 425% | 255% | 41% | 85% | 7% | 14% | 542% | 228% | 209% |
| 2021 | 18% | 16% | 45% | 44% | 109% | 0% | 161% | 149% | 1,031% | 249% | 38% | 41% |
| 2022 | 280% | 66% | 77% | 34% | 500% | 132% | 282% | 282% | 117% | 63% | 904% | 72% |
| 2023 | 110% | 113% | 92% | 78% | 58% | 57% | 110% | 39% | 6% | 63% | 59% | 15% |
| 2024 | 107% | 183% | 115% | 168% | 72% | 132% | 249% | 253% | 26% | 249% | 59% | 28% |
| 2025 | 84% | 80% | 88% | 9% | 1% | 62% | 171% | 243% | 166% | 119% | 15% | 183% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Qoul-I Akram Caves
Afghanistan
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 2,554 mEntrance altitude
- 7 °CInside, all year
Kalai Ghamai Caves
Afghanistan · 1 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 2,729 mEntrance altitude
- 6 °CInside, all year
Darra-e Kur
Afghanistan · 295 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,590 mEntrance altitude
- 13 °CInside, all year
Teshik-Tash
Uzbekistan · 354 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 864 mEntrance altitude
- 16 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q65953826) · 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 |
| Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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