South Africa Cave
Rising Star Cave
18 °C inside, all year.
Simon Fraser University - University Communications · CC BY 2.0
The descent
The entrance, at 1,484 m.
The real relief above Rising Star Cave, 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.
1,484m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
18°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
34m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
18 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 18 °C here, in January and in August. In November the afternoon reaches 29 °C at the entrance, 12 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from October to March. The wettest months are from November to March: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 29°16°Jan
- 29°15°Feb
- 27°14°Mar
- 24°10°Apr
- 21°6°May
- 18°3°Jun
- 18°2°Jul
- 22°5°Aug
- 27°9°Sep
- 29°12°Oct
- 29°14°Nov
- 29°16°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.
The Rising Star cave system (also known as Westminster or Empire cave) is located in the Malmani dolomites, in Bloubank River valley.
Rising Star Cave is a cave in South Africa. The entrance is at 1,484 m. It has an underground river and several entrances and long galleries.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Bagalenearest town · 8.0 km in a straight line
- Lanseria International Airport (HLA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 24 km in a straight lineCar hire at HLA airport (Johannesburg)Discover 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.
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.
- 1other cave entrances within 3 kmFault Cave
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 1campsites within 8 kmKrugersdorp Game Reserve
- 7hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmLog Cabins, Guest accommodation, Maropeng Boutique Hotel and 4 more
- 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
- 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).
Towns nearby
- Bagale8.0 km in a straight line
- Krugersdorp9.8 km in a straight line
- Orient Hills11 km in a straight line
- Muldersdriseloop13 km in a straight line
- Magaliesburg16 km in a straight line
- Randfontein18 km in a straight line
- Roodepoort23 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Rising Star Cave.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Peakyas1 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 | 29 | 29 | 27 | 24 | 21 | 18 | 18 | 22 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 29 |
| Afternoon | 29 | 29 | 27 | 24 | 21 | 18 | 18 | 22 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 29 |
| Night | 16 | 15 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| Rain (mm) | 119 | 89 | 72 | 49 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 16 | 50 | 82 | 123 |
| Rainy days | 20 | 17 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 15 | 20 |
| Sun hours/day | 8.7 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 8.1 | 9.3 | 9.2 | 9.8 | 10.1 | 10.4 | 9.8 | 9.2 | 8.7 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 29 | 29 | 16 | 119 | 8.7 |
| Feb | 29 | 29 | 15 | 89 | 8.5 |
| Mar | 27 | 27 | 14 | 72 | 8.3 |
| Apr | 24 | 24 | 10 | 49 | 8.1 |
| May | 21 | 21 | 6 | 16 | 9.3 |
| Jun | 18 | 18 | 3 | 8 | 9.2 |
| Jul | 18 | 18 | 2 | 3 | 9.8 |
| Aug | 22 | 22 | 5 | 6 | 10.1 |
| Sep | 27 | 27 | 9 | 16 | 10.4 |
| Oct | 29 | 29 | 12 | 50 | 9.8 |
| Nov | 29 | 29 | 14 | 82 | 9.2 |
| Dec | 29 | 29 | 16 | 123 | 8.7 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (1,484 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 | 133% | 110% | 85% | 149% | 0% | 68% | — | 50% | 38% | 107% | 138% | 101% |
| 2021 | 141% | 136% | 66% | 51% | 15% | 60% | — | 160% | 160% | 149% | 97% | 154% |
| 2022 | 133% | 55% | 102% | 337% | 220% | 188% | — | 31% | 17% | 102% | 235% | 83% |
| 2023 | 30% | 152% | 62% | 31% | 238% | 72% | — | 10% | 29% | 61% | 30% | 64% |
| 2024 | 69% | 50% | 95% | 128% | 19% | 180% | — | 5% | 63% | 61% | 47% | 50% |
| 2025 | 81% | 192% | 76% | 151% | 40% | 2,808% | — | 74% | 85% | 230% | 173% | 82% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Rising Star Cave
South Africa
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,484 mEntrance altitude
- 18 °CInside, all year
Sterkfontein
South Africa · 3 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,481 mEntrance altitude
- 18 °CInside, all year
Wonder Cave
South Africa · 8 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,508 mEntrance altitude
- 18 °CInside, all year
Coopers Cave
South Africa · 4 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,472 mEntrance altitude
- 18 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q16899337) · 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 |
| 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
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
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