Mahendra Guffa

Mahendra Cave

Useful Information

Location:	10 km north of the city center of Pokahara. (28.271699, 83.979896)
Open:
Fee:
Classification:	Karst cave
Light:	electric, but bring torch.
Dimension:	L=242 m, VR=15 m.
Guided tours:	L=120 m.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Mahendra Guffa, Tel: +977-, Fax: +977-,
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

1950	discovered by a couple of shepherd boys.

Description

Mahendra Guffa (Mahendra Cave) is the most popular cave of Nepal. The cave is noted for its extraordinary speleothems, but unfortunately they have suffered from vandals who broke them off as souvenirs. The cave is lit with electric light. At least that is the legend. In reality, it is probably popular, but does not have speleothems which are notable. And it is very dim and visitors are recommended to bring a flashlight.

The cave is located in a layer of conglomerate, granule to pebble sized gravel fixed by a matrix of fine sand. This conglomerate is capped by a much harder and more resistant rock, so the cave is restricted to the conglomerate. The cave is entered by going down into a sort of depression, the entrance is located at the deepest point, at the foot of a cliff face. The passages are devoid of speleothems, often rather rectangular, a result of the layer of cap rock which forms the ceiling.

The cave seems to be small and a little dull. We did not visit this cave personally, but both, the Lonely Planet Guidebook and our caver friend Franz Lindenmayr have the same description for the cave: "simply not worth the effort". We guess it is not bad to visit if you are there, but you should not drive far to get there. And if you are there, also visit nearby bat cave.