Maramagambo Caves

Bats Cave - Hunters Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Maramagambo Forest. (-0.308966, 29.979447)
Open:	Closed due to Marburg case. [2008]
Fee:	closed.
Classification:	lava tube
Light:	lamps provided.
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

JUL-2008

caves closed for security reasons due to a case of Marburg.

Description

Maramagambo Forest is an extensive rain forest which is part of Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) in the far west of Uganda. There are numerous small caves like Bats Cave and Hunters Cave. Bat Cave is home to hundreds of fruit bats and pythons, which are often observed in the crevices of the cave floor, using the bats as a source of food. The caves are visited on guided tours to the park, under the general theme of biodiversity.

Maramagambo means 'the end of words' in the local language, and is based on a local legend. A group of people was lost in the forest, and needed many days to find out. When they returned they could not speak for a long time because of their exhaustion.

In July 2008 the caves at Maramagambo Forest became world infamous, after a tourist from the Netherlands died after returning from a journey to Uganda. She was - obviously on her Africa journey - infected with the extremely dangerous Marburg virus, a deadly disease similar to Ebola, which causes haemorrhagic fever and bleeding. As she had visited the caves, the bats were immediately accused to be responsible. But this was an isolated case, during ten years of tourism in the area nothing similar happened before, and three other tourists who visited the cave with her were not infected. But as long as the source of the infection is not identified the park authorities decided to close the caves, just in case.

The reason why bats are held responsible for outbreaks of Marburg is the fact that according to ongoing ecological studies about 5% of the fruit bats in Kitaka mines in Kamwenge district show evidence of prior Marburg virus infestation. In August 2007 three gold miners were infected and one of them died. Subsequently, the mine was closed and no further infections have been reported. The common conclusion is, that bats in western Uganda were a reservoir for the Marburg virus. However, so far the natural reservoirs for both Marburg and Ebola diseases are unknown. And most likely the bats are not responsible, as there are millions of bats which fly all night, with lots of occasional interaction between bats and humans. If they spread the disease, there would be an epidemic in the country.