Ropiko Beach Resort's visit to a Cave

Kavolavata Cave – A Must Experience

“A cave, here, on Gatokae Island?”

I ask Hona the environment manager of Ropiko Beach Resort.

He looks straight me in the eyes and stresses yes with a big nod.

“Have you been there?”

“Yes”, he says adamantly.

“So are you coming with us?”

“Of course,” he repeats zealously.

This is our conversation on the small stretch of white sands in front of the Ropiko Beach Resort.

No sooner had our conversation ended when the other adventurers joined us.

Ronsy Piko, the boat driver; Elijah or Ila as he’s affectionately called by everyone we meet there, Niniu Oligao the Coordinator of Tourism for Inclusive Development in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and a young boat boy and I.

 Because a low tide is setting in, Mr Piko carefully and tactfully manouvres us past rocks protruding out of the sea to where they have a small buoy that is the mark of the outlet to the deep.

The sea is a bit chirpy this morning, but not too bad. As soon as we settle into our positions on the boat, he revs up the 40HP Yamaha and we are off.

Our destination is Kavolavata village to see demonstrations by two carvers and then the cave to the west of the village.

After 15 minutes we arrive and walk to John Apong’s home, the first in the village.

Mr Apong takes out his carvings, wood and tools then explains he and another friend, Vincent are worried about their culture being consumed by modern influences.

Then he demonstrates and tells his stories for Mr Oligao to video graph him. When he’s finished, his wife who is a very good weaver takes over to demonstrate her skills. And finally, Vincent Sesali, originally from Biche village but now married and living in Kavolavata, came on to demonstrate how they make stone bowls, how their ancestors make clothing out of the roots of banyan trees and also their style of sewing sago palm leaves for houses.

The three artists have acknowledged the big support of Ropiko to their activities. They say the nearby Wilderness Lodge used to support but it no longer does now.

After that, our team thanks our hosts and heads to the cave, some 1 or 2 kilometres west of Kavolavata.

When we reach a small village just before the location of the cave our driver says he needed to see someone there about something and excuses himself.

Hona, Elijah and the young boy tell Oligao and I that we are not far from the cave. And, sure enough, we finally arrive.

The entrance from where we stand doesn’t look like it is a cave. Two boulders from the hill there shoot straight down into the ground. And between them is a small stream.

Hona and I are the last to arrive at the entrance – Ila, the young boy and Oligao are already well inside the cave, using three torches out of five which Mr Hona brought along.

“Take a photo of me in the cave,” Ila shouts.

In pitch dark, it’s hard to properly focus the camera. So I use the flash. Yes, they are not too far in for the shot to be quite good. But not well focused!

“Let’s go in. I will hold the torch,” says Hona.

I walk after him. Ahead of us, Ila and the small boy keep laughing and shining their torches on the stream because they are catching the prawns that are so plenty in the stream.

“Please shine your torch on the roof,” I tell Hona who does so and my, the roof is high. But just a few metres in from where he shone his torch, the roof of the cave is just above our heads. Taller ones like Ila and Oligao had to stoop low to continue.

After that rather low part of the roof, the rest of the cave is high.

“Booom, fluff, fluff, shoosh,” is what fills the cave.

“What’s that sound?” I ask Hona.

“Flying foxes and bats,” he quickly replies.

“They are so plenty in here, so be very careful where the roof is low,” he advises.

“Shine you torch to where I can take a shot of them,” I tell and he obliges.

And, what a sight they are!

“Ouch!” I squeak.

“What’s that?” Hona asks.

One of the flying foxes running away from us flew towards us, when Hona suddenly switched off his torch, and hit the right side of my head then flew on, no doubt warbly in the dark because where it hit my head is sore.

The flying foxes are clinging onto the roof and lots more are flying around while the bats fly to their own spot in the cave as we continue to walk in and in. The stream is not too deep but there is one spot ahead where the young boy and Hona warn us to be careful when we get to it.

It’s a heap of soil which obviously eroded from the side of the cave and blocks the entrance.

“Be very careful where you step and grip. It’s all loose soil and rocks so watch how you get hold or where you step,” cautioned Hona.

“This is where we at Ropiko have asked the owners of the cave to come and put or create a proper ladder. We can’t have people coming in here and getting injured here,” he added.

Meanwhile, the flutter chirps and cries of the flying foxes and bats reverberated in the cave which is as high as 30 or 50 metres. I keep taking snaps in the dark, and at times ask Hona to shine his torch to where clusters of hanging foxes are.

I also ask Oligao to shine his torch on the oozing rocks to capture any interesting shapes of the soft stone. There, indeed, is plenty of that as well.

It is all smooth walking after the dirt that blocks the way until there is a slight climb as we continue walk on and on to the sound of fluffing, chirping crying of the bats and flying foxes. Meanwhile, torches and small knife Ila and the small boy are using to catch the prawns kept its steady noise amidst the chaotic sound in the cave.

When we see another steep place in the cave ahead of us, Ila and the small boy say we should go back as it’s all similar to what we have seen and experienced after the little climb.

While I was very keen to snap the flying foxes both in the dark using the flash or asking those holding torches to help, I am always mindful about my camera.

All along the walk which I guess is about 20 minutes, I am wary of the camera being wet by the constant water drops from the roof of the entire cave.

Also lurking at the back of my mind is the event of an earthquake as Gatokae is closest to the undersea Kavachi Volcano.

But luckily, nothing like that happened!

We head out of the cave very satisfied about our experience.

On Facebook when we arrive back at the Ropiko Beach Resort my thread is ‘I’ve entered some big rock caves in the past, but none so big like the Kavolavata one’.

I really mean that.

flying foxes on the roof of the cave