Ogba Ogbunike

Ogbunike Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Ifite Rd, Ogbunike 433103, Anambra, Nigeria. At Ogbunike, near Onitsha market town, Oyi local government area, Anambra State. At the border of the Niksi River. (6.179135, 6.859349)
Open:	All year Mon-Sat 8-17, Sun 11:30-17. [2025]
Fee:	Adults NGN 3,000, Guide NGN 1,000. Groups: Group NGN 5,000-10,000. [2017]
Classification:	sandstone cave Lateritic sandstones of Campanian-Miocene age.
Light:	none.
Dimension:	L=350 m.
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:	Dr. M. Ann Edington (1984): Biological Observations on the Ogbunike Cave Systems, Anambra State, Nigeria, Studies In Speleology, Volume 5, 31-38, William Pengelly Cave Studies Trust. F. F. Mutoe-Okafor, H. C. Gugnani, A. Gugnani (1996): Skin and serum reactivity among humans to histoplasmin in the vicinity of a natural focus of Histoplasma capsulatum var., Mycopathologia 134 (2), p. 71-74.
Address:	Ogbunike Cave, Ifite Rd, Ogbunike 433103, Anambra, Tel: +234-902-251-0514.
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

1989	surveyed by Szentes, an Hungarian speleologist.
1990s	Anambra State Government builds staircase to the cave entrance.
1996	study about histoplasmosis infections amongst the locals was made by Mutoe-Okafor et al.
2000	Senate President Dr. Chuba Okadigbo hides the mace in the cave.
2007	submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

Description

Ogba Ogbunike (Ogbunike Cave) is known to the locals for a very long time. It was used as a hideout from slave hunters. Ogbunike Cave is located in the mid-west region of Nigeria, near Onitsha and the Niger River. It is a location where Africans hid from slave raiding parties during the African holocaust period.

The cave consists of a network of chambers, crawls and tunnels on two levels. The lower level is 100 m long and drains an underground river. The entrance chamber is 10 m wice, 5 m high and 30 m long and the starting point of ten different smaller tunnels. The underground river emerges from one of those passages and right out of the cave meets the Nkissa river. Quite extraordinary is the fact that the cave tributary is much warmer than the river. The upper level is twice as long and dry.

Sandstone caves are very rare, and typically very small. This cave is extraordinary big for this type of caves. It was formed by tectonic forces, which produced weak zones in the rock. Physio-chemical and biological weathering and of course erosion formed the cave. And as the cave has a rather long history, there are also human alterations.

The cave contains a large bat colony which produced a large deposit of Guano. This guano is the basis to a rich and diverse invertebrate fauna, but also the reason for histoplasmosis infections. In 1996 a very interesting study about histoplasmosis infections amongst the locals was made by Mutoe-Okafor et al. (see bibliography above).

The cave is very well known in the area, so it has a certain amount of visitors every year. Some sources say they have in average 40 visitors per day. Once a year there is a festival at the cave called Ime Ogbe, which celebrates the discovery of the caves. And on Christmas, Easter, New Yam Festival and school holidays the caves have up to 200 visitors per day. Because of religious traditions the visit of the cave is only allowed with bare feet. Actually there are numerous rules for visitors, and so a sign at the entrance read:

"Ifite Youth Movement warning; no entry except by permission.
Remove your shoes before entering into the cave.
Ladies under period banned. Receive receipt after payment.
Herbalist or spiritual ceremony in the cave is banned.
Deforestation of cave will be prosecuted.
Defaulters will be prosecuted."

This sign was replaced by a new one, which is less wierd, but still strange.

Only the cave manager & his assistants are authorised to operate at the cave.
You are duty bound to pay for the upkeep of the cave.
Official hours 8am-5pm. Visitors outside official hours are at their own risk.
Women in their menstrual period are prohibited.
Do not steal within or around the cave.
Deforestation of the cave environment attracts a fine of N5000.00 only.
Water in containers at the main entrance is for drinking, pls. do not abuse.
All items of sacrifice must be dropped in the Ogba river.
Fighting attracts a fine of N 5000.00.

Unfortunately painting graffiti on the wall is not forbidden, so many walls are full of them. It is also strange that the rule that visitors must remove their shoes before entering the caves is no longer on the list. But rule number 5 obviously has its origin in the following legend:

According to oral tradition of the local Igbo, there was a god called Ogba who lived inside the cave in the middle of a large rock. Despite the opaque nature of the rock, he was an all-seeing spirit who could detect crimes, especially, theft. When someone was accused of some sort of crime, he could prove he was innocent by entering the cave. The guilty ones never returned alive.

The cave has numerous traditions, not only as a hideout and a place of justice, but also as a vault. In 2000 Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, the Senate President, became aware of plots to impeach him. So he hid his mace, the symbol of authority of the legislature, inside the cave. He put the mace in a secret place inside the cave and placed also some pythons there. So people who tried to impeach him would have to travel to the cave, brave the god Ogba and the poisonous snakes.

Among the locals the town Onitsha is often called Ogbunike, and the cave is called Ogba, like the god. However, the English name used by the tourists is Ogbunike cave.