Mawsmai Cave

It was luckily a sunny day at Cherrapunjee, the wettest place on the planet, after seeing few long V-shaped valleys between Shillong and Cherrapunjee, we reached Mawsmai, a place near Cherrapunje, at around 12:30. Near Mawsmai Cave we saw a natural spring . It was protected by walls.

Then we had lunch at a small restaurant near Mawsmai Cave. Mawsmai Cave is a natural limestone cave situated at southern side of Cherrapunjee at about 6 kilometers north of Indo-Bangladesh border. The entrance was very spacious. We were totally 10 and I lead the way inside the cave. Soon the narrowed down into a small passage of less than a foot width. After the narrow passage, cave split into two. The right side was double decked and was very short. Within few seconds lights went off on the right side. So those who came after me didn't get the view of this side. Left side after the passage was again spacious. Water was dripping continuously from the roof. The walls had coarse vertical patterns. Roof had long, huge pointed structures formed due to constant dripping of water through soft limestone.



At many places these huge structures joined with floor to form pillars. At about 100 meter from entrance, the passage again got narrow. This time it was small enough that crawling is the only way to cross. Here we noticed some rubble due to a recent collapse of the wall. After crossing about 150 meter we saw sunlight. But this is not from the exit, but due to a huge cave-in of the roof. Near to that was the exit. After crossing about 150-200 meter we came out of the cave. It was really a great experience visiting that cave.


Map of Mawsmai Cave: