When people think of Gibraltar, they often think
of the 426-meter limestone promontory and the
Barbary Macaques which are the only wild monkey
population in Europe. Rarely do they think of the
fact that there are 150 caves in Gibraltar and 57
kilometres of tunnels in this small peninsula of 6.7
kilometres in length.
When tourists visit Gibraltar, they often go
through main street, up the cable car, in taxi, mini-
bus or take the hike up the Rock or stroll through
our beautiful Alameda Gardens. About half way up
our Rock you are greeted with St Michael Cabin,
a lovely little cafe that has an array of different
souvenirs aimed at visiting tourists, and food for a
little bite to eat.
St Michael’s Cabin serves as a little pit stop be-
fore tourists or locals decide to either go up further
to reach the top of the Rock or venture down into
the luminous St Michael’s Cave, or do both!
Upper St. Michael’s cave is without a doubt the
most visited cave in Gibraltar, having hundreds of
thousands of visitors each year. What makes this
cave so attractive is the huge stalactite and stalag-
mite formations formed from millions of years of
precipitation from minerals found in water dripping
from the ceiling.
The stalagmites and stalactites are lit up by
colours to make the formations even more vibrant
and interesting. For those who don’t know the di-
fference, Stalagmites rise from the floor, Stalacti-
tes fall from the ceiling.
In recent years, the tourist attraction has been
made into a venue for a variety of different perfor-
mances, from dance to beauty contests to comedy
shows by the likes of Jimmy Carr for example, and
festivals like the Gibraltar World Music Festival.
In WW2, the cave was prepared as an emer-
gency hospital and although it was never used for
this purpose, it was decided that in 1942 that there
was a need for an alternate entrance to the hospi-
tal to increase airflow, and an alternate exit in case
of any air strikes. While Royal Engineers were
blasting through the rock to make the alternate
entrance/exit, they came across a lower section
of the cave, Lower St Michael’s, which opened up
new exploration opportunities that still captivate
people to this day.
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Something interesting to note, however, is the
fact that Upper St Michael’s Cave is in fact ‘dead’,
which means that the cave is not growing, it’s
dried out, and is another reason why lights are illu-
minated on the stalactites and stalagmites. Upper
St Michael’s is dead because of the wind caused
by the alternate entrance, and also because of the
heat that has been generated from the millions of
visitors over the years.
Since it was quite chilly on the day I thought it
would be a wise choice for me to bring my jumper
and jacket. While we were at St Michael’s cabin
waiting to meet with our tour guide, Steve Payne
from Barbary Rock Adventures, I noticed OTWO’s
managing director, Vanessa wearing just a t-shirt
and a relatively thin Superdry jumper. I asked her
whether she would be warm enough to go in Lower
St Michaels as just based on my assumption I thou-
ght it might be really cold. We later learned Lower
St Michael’s Cave consistently stays between 17
to 19 degrees Celsius in both summer and winter,
meaning that wearing too much like a puffer jacket
would definitely leave you sweating like taking a
little dip in a sauna would.
Six of us were met with Steve and a trainee gui-
de who handed us our safety helmets in the event
of falling debris or us accidentally headbutting the
unseen thick stalactites in the tricky parts of navi-
gating through the cave (there aren’t many), and
torches for dimly lit places.
Steve never failed to make the experience in-
teresting, giving us information on the history of
the caves, inviting us to use our imagination to see
what we see in the variety of shapes and sizes in
the rock formations and frequently joking around,
but was always serious about our safety.
Unlike Upper St Michael’s cave where it’s dried
up, Lower St Michael’s Cave is still very much ali-
ve, full of moisture and constantly growing. The
tour took us 3 hours and 5 minutes, from 4:40 to
7:45. Reading that you might be thinking, ‘Oh! The
length of the cave must be really long then!’ Nope,
the total length of the cave is only 200 metres,
though it definitely feels much longer!
Greeting us first was a set of steel steps, though
with these steps, Steve asked us to turn around
and go down slowly with us facing the steps to
OTWO 08 / MARCH 2020
OTWO 08 / MARCH 2020
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