Millennium cave again

At the New Year we decided to tackle the Millennium caves, Annie for the first time and me for the second. We arranged things by phone and set off with three Kiwis (Ana and Don and Chris) and Lucy.

 At Nambel village at 10 am there were a few children and a couple of dogs and not much else. A woman or two appeared and we explained out needs. Eventually a bleary eyed guide Dominic was dug out of a hut , not the one we had booked, in fact the opposition but better than nothing and cheaper. I did try to contact the first one by climbing up the tower but still no signal. Last night had obviously been a good one.

So off we set, skirting the main 'opposition village' and after 30 minutes rested to have our faces painted and met the delightful father Chief Moli Waez in his traditional dress , a nambas. He produces the torches and off we went down the slippery track to the caves. 

Annie was very brave and didn't look down though I think she had been in worse places like the hill opposite Machu Pichu. Holding onto saplings and anything vaguely anchored we descended down to the caves.

Here we were very well led through by Dominic. We stumbled and squelched often knee and sometimes waist deep in water. The caves - a water course under a mountain - are impressive, about 20 feet wide and 20 to 40 feet high. There were many swallow nests and some bats.

After 20 minutes we stumbled out the other end.

 

We began the river descent, swimming some of the way with no buoyancy aids. We clambered over, round and under rocks and about half way along the canyon walked up the side to a bridge over the river. The path led up to the custom village that I had visited in December. Here we met Moli Waez again and I learnt that the young man who had been here last month was his son but had decamped to Fanafo for Christmas with his family. Our guide Dominic was another son.

 We were rested , were given bananas and chatted. Moli Waez had been with Jimmy Stevens thirty years ago and was wearing his Nagrimal movement armband. He also had a silver sovereign of the Nagrimal movement.

The children played quoits with Lucy and Ana passed the time of day with Dominic's wife. I chatted with Moli Waez. He was 66 years old and looked extremely fit. (I think I look in need of a bit of real exercise!!)

We paused for the group photo and from there we meandered our way home having had a good day out.