Windsor Cave

Great Windsor Cave - Windsor Great Cave


Useful Information

Location: Windsor
Open:
Fee:
Classification: SpeleologyKarst cave
Light: none, bring your own
Dimension: A=115 m, L=2,980 m, VR=80 m.
Guided tours: L=2,000 m, D=120 min.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography: Alan G. Fincham, Grenville Draper, Ross Macphee, Donald McFarlane, Stewart Peck, Ronald Read, Trevor Shaw, Geoffrey Wadge (1977): Jamaica Underground: The Caves, Sinkholes and Underground Rivers of the Island,
University Press of the West Indies, ISBN: 9766400369 Paperback, 465 pages, reprint 1998, pp 378-382 surveys, photo.
Worldamazon.com (paperback) Worldamazon.com (hardcover).
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

1930 mined for guano and opened to the public.
1950 donated to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature.
1995 WWF contracted the cave to the JCDT (Jamaica Conservation Development Trust).

Description

Windsor is reached by travelling the road from Falmouth, Trelawny, to Martha Brae, and then crossing the bridge to the east and turning right to follow the valley south into the hills. This scenic drive will take you along the side of the famous Martha Brae River, where tourists will be seen drifting downstream on bamboo rafts. "Rafting on the Martha Brae", is well known to visitors to the island. You will pass through the small farming communities of Perth Town and Reserve after you've parted ways with the river, then through Sherwood Content, Coxheath, and finally to Windsor.

Visitors may enter the cave by themselves but it is strongly recommended that they avail themselves of the services of Franklyn (Dango) Taylor, is the JCDT sanctioned warden, and the official guide, for the Windsor Great Cave. Dango uses a torch made of bamboo canes, soaked in kerosene. This gives a very smoky light so visitors are advised to bring there own electric lights.

Dango is a very experienced guide and knows the names of all the plants and wild life in the area. In addition to being a guide, Dango also runs a small shop which sells cold beverages and snacks.

The cave itself is one of the finest in Jamaica, both physically, and in its biological importance. Visitors to the cave are requested to not touch the formations found here; they are much more fragile than they look and are easily broken. They are also asked to refrain from shining lights or taking flash photographs on the roof of the chamber where bats will be found; this causes further disturbance than that already caused by your passage underneath, and can greatly increase the stress on these important inhabitants of the caves.

Please do not stray from the path there are many small creatures living on the floors of the outer chambers and damage as a result of soil compaction, or simply walking on them, will occur. In many places the path may be covered guano, take care as it can be very slippery.

The cave is entered via the flood resurgence so trips may be cancelled in wet weather. The cave contains a wealth of speleothems and an underground river which is the source of the Martha Brae. The entrance passages are very large and well worth a visit.


WARNING: Due to the large amount of dry guano there is a danger of catching Histoplasmosis in the caves.


Text by R. S. Stewart of the Jamaican Caves Organization and Tony Oldham (2003). With kind permission.