Dragon’s Breath
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Dragon’s Breath

Dragon’s Breath

When first discovered in 1986, Dragon’s Breath Cave was noticed only because of the shimmer of humid air that rises from it and which inspired the name. Located 46 kilometres northwest of Grootfontein in the Otjozondjupa Region near the Kalahari Desert in Namibia, the largest known underground non-sub glacial lake in the world beckons to be explored by the brave of heart.

Bruce Barker, one such explorer and a good friend of us here at Hartley’s, recently took part in this exceptional and once in a lifetime adventure. A team of twelve divers, lead by well known technical diver Don Shirley, made the lengthy trip from Johannesburg, South Africa to the cave. After an arduous twenty four hour drive, which involved dodging the numerous animals that frequent the roads at night, they arrived to set up camp and get a good rest before attempting any dives.

These are not straightforward dives – initially one has to enter the cave through a small opening on the surface, carefully shuffling all the necessary 1.5 tonnes of equipment along. This is the easy part as it is still relatively cool but then, 10 metres underground, the heat of Dragon’s Breath hits you as it comes up from the water 50 metres below. Then the rope work starts as each diver has to slither and slide down the rock, with three pitches to overcome and several drops to be made. It is no wonder that rock climbing qualifications and experience are needed just to access the water. The final abseil is spectacular as the crystal clear waters stretch out beneath. This whole climbing process takes over an hour and a half.

As there is no natural ambient lighting, floodlights are set up to illuminate the cavern. Looking down into the depths, the water is so clear that one can see divers 56 metres below the surface. The setting up of the dive equipment normally takes place on a convenient beach, but due to the water levels having risen 10 metres, this had to be done on floating rafts followed by extensive equipment checks that take an hour to complete.

Most of the team dive on rebreathers; breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user’s exhaled breath to permit the recycling of the substantially unused oxygen content of each breath. Oxygen is added to replenish the amount metabolised by the user. The others were on open-circuit systems whereby exhaled air blows directly out into the water in the form of bubbles. All divers have specially mixed air with varying levels of oxygen, nitrogen, helium and other gasses, and so allowing them to dive deeper and for longer, and minimising the dangerous effects of gas at depth. And the depths were indeed great – the deepest dive was to 131 metres!!

The divers explored a network of tunnels and caverns, carefully following well laid lines to ensure they could find their way back after seeing “what is around the next corner”; the mystery of which makes up the essence of any true explorer. The baboon bones and space-like worms and shrimps found added to the sense that Steven Spielberg could not have dreamed up a scene like Dragon’s Breath.