Cave Name:  So Sil Ha

Alternate Names: Muddy Creek, Seasonal Creek
District: Toledo
Area:  Rio Grande

Location:             Co-ordinates logged with the Belize Institute of Archaeology
Altitude:
Length: 
Depth: 

History of exploration:
In 2013 SWCC discovered and explored cave for >400m, with numerous leads left unexplored.

There was no evidence of previous exploration.  The cave lies some distance from known trails.

Description:
So Sil ‘Ha lies approximately 1.5km North East of Ramon’s Cave (Yax Ta ‘Ha) and the main Rio Grande cave systems.  An obvious seasonal creek flows from North to South into a large entrance shaft. It is assumed that the entrance would take the majority of the stream in wet season and would be impassable.
 

Picture: So Sil ‘Ha Entrance (Chris Jones)

The entrance shaft is 45m deep, with a large calcite flow at 25m that can be used to rebelay the rest of the shaft.  The bottom of the pitch lands in a small chamber.  Turning left out of the chamber heads into a larger chamber, covered in calcite, which descends through large boulders to an obvious junction.  Straight on leads through a large boulder choke to another chamber and evidence of water sinking in the floor.

Turning right at the junction, the passage lowers briefly before opening out into a large passage, littered with more calcite covered boulders.  The passage continues on an impressive scale through more boulders before descending into a chamber with a large slope straight ahead and a smaller passage to the north.

Picture: So Sil ‘Ha, Main Passage. (Phil Walker)

Straight up the slope leads to more large passage that drop into a large 20m x 30m chamber with evidence of lots of flood debris.  A possible continuation is at the far end of the chamber up a mud slope.

The small passage heading out of the previous chamber turns eastwards on a smaller scale, with a series of down climbs, following a dry stream bed.  A number of avens and side passages remain unexplored.  The passage eventually splits, with the stream bed turning and heading north.  This was not explored but continues as a low crawl.  This is possibly an upstream inlet, but is heading back (and only 20m) below the entrance chamber.

Cultural:
Details on archaeology and cultural remains are available from the IA.

Survey:
Coming Soon

Links:

References: