Older residents of Gansbaai may remember back to when this amazing
place was called “Duiwegat” (“Pigeon
hole”), because of the pigeons that nested (and still nests)
inside it. Over the years the name changed to the more dramatic
“Duiwel(s)gat” (“Devil’s Hole”) - a
7m diameter sinkhole, some 20m deep, with a safety wall built
around it.
But this is only half the story! Finding the cache, however, is
rather a matter of it’s NOT on top, it’s
INSIDE! You will need to trek about 70 more metres over
fairly rough and slippery terrain to finally get to it.
Unfortunately your GPS will not be able to lead you to the final
cache position due to a lack of reception.
This one requires a bit of planning. It can only be done
about an hour either side of low tide! Consult
this site or
this one for a timetable.
Park at S34 32.894 E19 22.492 and take the footpath down to the
sea. After passing a (broken) bench, you meet up with the walking
trail (marked by green footsteps) - follow it to S34 32.811 E19
22.449 where you (if you’re not scared of heights) can climb
over the low wall and (carefully!) look down to first appreciate
the view form above.
Now walk to S34 32.803 E19 22.440 (toward the sea), to the top
of a nice path leading to sea level and the designated co-ordinates
where you are about to loose GPS signal. The cave taking you to the
sinkhole will now be obvious. Just follow the light streaming in
from above, but beware of slippery rocks as you negotiate your way
towards the small sandy beach at the back.
Update: 3 April 2010
The local municipality did some work around this area. The broken
bench along the way has been fixed, a sign was erected at the site
and the wall around the hole repaired. The information on the sign
is in good agreement with my text (phew!). It goes on to say that
the wall was built to prevent cattle from falling in.
