Berliner Höhlenkundliche Berichte, Volume 11: The Caves of Rwanda / Les Grottes du Rwanda

About this book

Language: Bilingual in English and French, with trilingual abstract in English, French, and German

During a Rwandean–Swiss–German speleological project in 2003 nearly 10 km of cave passages were surveyed in 42 caves of the Ruhengeri province, NW Rwanda. The caves are exclusively developed in Cenozoic volcanic rocks.

The most significant findings were lava tube caves like Ubuvumo Nyabikuri–Ruri (Bukamba district) at 3384 m (unsegmented), which is currently the longest cave of Rwanda as well as Gacinyiro 2 (Kinigi district, unsegmented, 1470 m). Ubuvumo bwa Musanze, formerly reported to be the longest cave of Rwanda at 4560 m was found to be segmented with the longest segment being just 1600 m long. Some of the caves still contain human remains from the 1994 ethnic genocide.

The above-mentioned results initiated the publication of this report that summarises the knowledge on the caves of Rwanda in general and of the 2003 campaign in particular. Many caves in NW Rwanda still await exploration and the potential for further discoveries is as excellent as the co-operation with the local authorities proved to be.

Contents

Content / Table de matières     
Summary, Résumé, Zusammenfassung     5
Acknowledgements / Remerciments     6

1     Introduction / Introduction     7
2     Geological settings / Situation géologique     9
3     The caves of Rwanda / Les grottes du Rwanda     13/14
3.1     General remarks / Remarques générales     13/14
3.2     List of caves of Rwanda / Liste des grottes du Rwanda     16
3.2.1     Butare province / Préfecture de Butare     16
3.2.2     Byumba province / Préfecture de Byumba     17
3.2.3     Cyangugu province / Préfecture de Cyangugu     17
3.2.4.     Gikongoro province / Préfecture de Gikongoro     18
3.2.5     Gisenyi province / Préfecture de Gisenyi     18
3.2.6     Gitarama province / Préfecture de Gitarama     25
3.2.7     Kibungo province / Préfecture de Kibungo     25
3.2.8     Kigali Ngali province / Préfecture de Kigali rurale     25
3.2.9     Kigali ville province / Préfecture de la Ville de Kigali     26
3.2.10     Ruhengeri province / Préfecture de Ruhengeri     26
3.2.11     Umutara province / Préfecture d’Umutara     78
4     Recommendations / Recommandations     79
5     Useful addresses / Adresses utiles     80
6     References / Références     80
7     Annexes / Annexes     82 — 116

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