sign in a cave in Laos

24 February 2008

Akohi Cave, Seram, Maluku


Akohi Cave is at Tamilouw, on the southern coast of Seram Island in Maluku Province, Indonesia. The cave office is called Lucky House and the caretaker is Mr Jack. The cave has been newly developed for tourism, and we were the first group to use the generator, March 2007. I was the 9th foreign visitor that year.

 checking the generator
 generator house is to the right of the cave entrance



Sadly the cave development has been done very badly. The biggest problem is that the new concrete entrance really restricts the natural air flow through the cave and as a result many of the stalagmites and stalactites have dried out, and the bats have moved away. The cave is unbearably hot.


Also the lighting has been positioned badly, and the cables laid all over the place. Construction rubbish hasn't been removed. The guide thinks nothing of touching the stal formations, which normally is not encouraged in caves.

The cave however has some beautiful formations. It is such a pity that it has now dried out.










© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

4 comments:

  1. Human is good in destroying nature! :-(

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes. In this case I did write a report to the authorities as I was there as an "official" visitor, so i felt I was justified in giving my negative comments.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have just visited this cave(tho i only got the first 20meters from the entrance)
    It was worse than what you hv wrote here, no more elctricity, no lighting, no door on the entrance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dave, for your comments. It's really sad to hear the cave is no longer looked after. What a waste. I just hope that people don't visit now. Or if they do visit I hope that, like you, they don't go in far from the entrance.

      Delete