Mirror Rock Cave

At this point our group split up. About half flew home. The rest of us continued on to Flores Island for an extra week of exploring.

We flew in, arriving mid-day. On the way from the airport to our hotel we stopped off at Mirror Rock Cave for a little light spelunking.

We were very lucky to do it during the dry season. On the walk in from the parking area to the cave you could easily see how the whole area might be boggy during the rainy season. They typically get 80 centimeters of rain per year. As it was, we encountered only a handful or mosquitoes.

There are thick groves of bamboo in the area. It’s considered particularly good bamboo because it is so solid that it can be made into furniture. Normally it would for for the equivalent of $3 for 20 meters. This particular grove belongs to the government and is not taken.

It isn’t a very long walk in to the caves. We stopped long enough to look at the Septic Plant, which is used locally to stop bleeding, and to talk about the gazebo like structure which is used for meetings when found in other parts of the islands,

The entrance to the cave is a substantial staircase. I kind of felt pampered at this point. Admittedly, the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns is more luxurious with it’s building and elevators. But this is still a far cry from scrabbling around in the hills around here.

It didn’t take long for them to get down to brass tacks. Those who went in to the cave proper had to put on helmets. It took some crawling around. I managed it even with a camera around my neck and two trekking poles, but it was not easy. And then, of course, it was too dark to get much in the way of good pictures.

The caverns are twisty with lots of little cul de sacs and some narrow passages. It did get a bit stuffy. I think if you tried to take a nap there, you might run out of oxygen.

The highlight was a mid-sized cavern that had a fossil turtle shell hanging down from the ceiling. After we exited the way we’d come in and rejoined the others, we saw a fish in a rock wall, went around the corner to see an impression of a large spiral shell, then took a different staircase back to the walkway to the parking lot.

Yeah, it was a little steep.