Cango Caves: Heritage and Adventure Tours near Oudtshoorn

Cango Caves: Heritage and Adventure Tours near Oudtshoorn: History & Culture

Discover Cango Caves: Heritage and Adventure Tours near Oudtshoorn

The Cango Caves are in the foothills of the Swartberg range in the Klein Karoo, about 29–30 km north of Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape. Oudtshoorn Tourism calls them South Africa’s oldest tourist attraction. You can only visit with a guide, and there are two tours. The hour-long Heritage Tour walks you through the great show chambers. The 90-minute Adventure Tour takes you through tunnels as low as 27 cm. If you are driving the coastal Garden Route, the caves make an easy day trip inland, and one road links them to ostrich farms, a game lodge and the Swartberg Pass.

Cango Caves at a glance

• Location: on the R328, about 29–30 km north of Oudtshoorn, Western Cape
• Opening hours: 09:00–16:00
• Tours: guided only. Choose the Heritage Tour (60 minutes) or the Adventure Tour (90 minutes)
• Inside the caves: about 18°C all the time, and humid
• Phone: +27 (0)44 272 7410
• Email: [email protected]
• Nearest airport: George, about 50 km from Oudtshoorn

Choosing your cave tour

Heritage Tour (60 minutes)

The Heritage Tour is the classic route. The local tourism office calls it the Standard Tour. Tours leave every hour from 09:00 to 16:00 and need only easy fitness. The route goes through Van Zyl Hall and Botha Hall. Van Zyl Hall is the first chamber, about 90 m long and often described as being as long as a football field. This is the tour for families with young children, older travellers, and anyone who wants the formations without the squeezing.

Adventure Tour (90 minutes)

The Adventure Tour covers the whole of Cango 1. Tours leave every hour on the half-hour from 09:30 to 15:30, and you need moderate fitness. You crawl, climb and wriggle through three well-known tight spots:

• Lumbago Alley: 28 m long, with a ceiling only 1.2 m high
• The Devil’s Chimney: a vertical squeeze 45 cm wide
• The Devil’s Post Box: a tunnel just 27 cm high

This tour is not suitable if you have claustrophobia or back problems. Children under 8 cannot go, and pregnant women are advised not to. Wear old clothes and shoes with good grip.

Tour languages

Tours run in English. Other languages, including Afrikaans, German and French, may be available if you ask when you book.

History of the Cango Caves

People used the caves long before they became a tourist attraction. Cave paintings and stone artefacts show they were used during the Stone Age, and the caves are linked to rock art by the San people. In 1780 a local farmer, Jacobus Van Zyl, rediscovered the caves, and the first chamber now carries his name. A second chamber was found in 1792.

Protective regulations for the caves go back to 1820. Visitors kept coming through the 1800s: Dr Andrew Smith came in 1829. The first full-time guide, Johnnie van Wassenaar, opened side chambers to the public. In 1930 the archaeologist A.J.H. Goodwin dug inside the caves and found stone artefacts. Today the site is protected under the Cango Caves Ordinance of 1999 and run by Oudtshoorn Local Municipality.

The geology

The caves formed in Precambrian limestones. Oudtshoorn Tourism says faulting shaped them. The tunnels and chambers run for more than 4 km, and only about a quarter of the system is open to visitors. The rest stays protected.

Planning your visit

• Book ahead: booking is essential during the school holidays.
• Accessibility: pushchairs and wheelchairs cannot go into the caves.
• What to wear: good walking shoes on any tour, and old clothes for the Adventure Tour. It is about 18°C and humid underground.
• Facilities: an information desk, an interpretive centre, an auditorium showing a 19-minute film about Cango 2, the Kraal Gallery gift shop and a restaurant serving traditional South African food.

Getting there: the Cango Route

From Oudtshoorn, take the R328 north through Schoemanspoort to the caves. South African Tourism promotes this stretch as the Cango Route, about 30 km through the Little Karoo. The nearest airport is George, about 50 km from Oudtshoorn, so most visitors fly in, hire a car and drive over.

After the caves, the R328 carries on over the Swartberg Pass to the small Karoo town of Prince Albert. The pass is 23.8 km long and takes about an hour to drive. South African Tourism calls it one of the finest mountain passes in the world, and you can do the caves and the pass in the same day.

Things to do nearby

• Cango Ostrich Farm: one of the most popular stops on the Cango Route. Oudtshoorn is ostrich country.
• Buffelsdrift Game Lodge: game drives to see Cape buffalo, elephant, hippo and giraffe, with more than 200 bird species recorded.
• Swartberg Pass: drive on over the mountains to Prince Albert.
• Local produce: the Cango Route area is known for olives and cheese.

Where to eat

The restaurant at the caves serves traditional South African food, which is handy between tours. On the Cango Route, R62 Deli serves Karoo tapas and local food outdoors. Reviewers describe the restaurant at Buffelsdrift Game Lodge as gourmet and very affordable. In Oudtshoorn, try ostrich: diners often praise the ostrich steak and ostrich pasta at restaurants in town.

Where to stay near Cango Caves

In the Cango valley

• Cango Retreat: self-catering cottages on the R328 beside the Grobbelaars River, 21 km from Oudtshoorn and 6 km from the caves. There are seven cottages, from a honeymoon studio for two to units sleeping six. Each has a full kitchen, a private braai and a fireplace. Guests share four natural river rock pools, a 2 km hiking trail, canoeing, catch-and-release fly fishing and a playground.
• De Opstal Country Lodge: a family-run lodge on an ostrich farm in Schoemanshoek, about 18 km from the caves. The rooms have log burners.
• Buffelsdrift Game Lodge: luxury tents on the Cango Route, with game viewing on the property.

In Oudtshoorn town

If you would rather stay near town restaurants, Oudtshoorn is about 29–30 km from the caves. Options include The Featherbed, the Protea Hotel by Marriott Oudtshoorn Riempie Estate, Queen’s Hotel by BON Hotels (a colonial-era hotel with a courtyard pool) and Baron’s Palace.

Events: the KKNK festival

The biggest date on the region’s calendar is the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK), a yearly Afrikaans arts festival in Oudtshoorn. The 2026 festival ran from 28 March to 4 April and marked its 30th anniversary. If you are travelling around festival time, book your cave tour and your accommodation early.

Photo: Rute Martins of Leoa’s Photography (www.leoa.co.za), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.