The Cango Caves number among South Africa's most popular attractions, drawing a quarter of a million visitors each year to gasp at their fantastic cavernous spaces, dripping rocks and rising columns of calcite.
In the two centuries since they became known to the public, the caves have been seriously battered by human intervention, but they still represents a stunning landscape growing inside the Swartberg foothills.
Don't go expecting a serene and contemplative experience, though; the only way of getting inside the caves is on a guided tour accompanied by a commentary.
Cango is a Khoi word meaning a wet place - accurate enough, given that the caves' awesome formations are the work of water constantly percolating through rock and dissolving limestone on the way.
The solution drips from the roof of the cave and down the walls, depositing calcium carbonate that gradually builds up.
Although the caves are many millions of years old, the calcite formations that you see today are geological youngsters, dating back a mere 100.000 years.
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