The Mammoth Cave!

Of all the places we've visited lately, Mammoth Cave is probably the most adventurous one yet. Located in the Margaret River region, is a huge limestone cave that's a natural wonder and home to ancient fossil remains of long-extinct giant animals, believed to include the likes of the Tasmanian Tiger and Giant Kangaroo that became extinct over 40,000 years ago.

We took the self guided audio cave tour when we got there so we were both given an mp3 player and headset to explore the cave on our own while listening to pre-recorded audio on the history, geology and biology of the cave and its surroundings. I quite enjoyed this, it allowed us to wander around and explore the cave freely, and at our own pace.

The first thing that strikes you as you enter the cave is the sheer size of it and the cool fresh breeze. I thought it would smell dingy and musty but it didn't, I can't quite describe the smell but it wasn't unpleasant. This ancient cave has been carved out over thousands of years by the constant flow of underground water, creating a labyrinth of passages, chambers, and limestone formations that you can see everywhere. The main chamber is over 100 feet high, and the ceiling is adorned with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites (icicle-shaped deposits that grow up and down from the cave). It is also home to a variety of different animals, such as bats, cave crickets, snakes and spiders!😬.

stalactites and stalagmites in the cave

The self guided tour should have taken us about 45-60 minutes but we did it in about 25 minutes, talk about power walking!😂😂 We got to the cave a bit later in the day so we were practically touring it on our own, we bumped into one couple along the way but they were leaving as we were entering, so we were on our own for the rest of the tour. The inside of the cave has lights around it so you can see around and take some cool photos, and there's also a narrow designated boardwalk with metal bars along it that continues into, around and out of the cave, for your safety. To preserve and protect the cave, visitors are not allowed to touch the stone formations or anything in the cave apart from the safety railing.

After a few minutes in the cave, with only faint echos of water dripping and the unfamiliar sounds of nature to distract us, being in the cave alone started to feel eerie.

It suddenly felt claustrophobic and it felt like something would suddenly pop out at us. Worse still, I let my imagination run wild for a second and started imagining all kinds of things...being trapped in the cave, being bit by a snake etc., and of course none of this happened, the inside of the cave is actually breath-taking, its beautiful and equally fascinating to look at, but at this point, I had already convinced myself something was out to get me hence the fastest cave tour ever lol. The signs about snakes wandering around the area didn't help either!🤷‍♀️

We hastily made our way out of the cave and when we returned to the souvenir shop, the lady there was surprised at how quick we had taken the tour, we just laughed but I low-key felt embarrassed about it too, haha!🥴😂

I was annoyed when I later found out that there's a 50,000 year old jaw bone belonging to an extinct genus of giant marsupial embedded in the cave wall that we'd completely missed along the tour🤨. So for first time visitors, I'd definitely recommend the guided tour first so as to not miss out on any of the cave's rich history.

Despite our shenanigans, this was a really unique and fascinating experience, I'd recommend a Mammoth Cave tour to anyone, especially those interested in natural history and geology.

Speak to you in the next post,

Chich.