Chinhoyi Caves · Zimbabwe · Cave & cavern · Freshwater
Sleeping Pool
A sinkhole lake dived down a scree slope into a shaft that goes past 100 m
Area photo: Suesen · CC BY-SA 3.0
Sleeping Pool, known locally as Chirorodziva, is a cobalt-blue cave lake reached by walking down through the collapsed roof of the Wonder Hole to a gallery about 45 m below the surface. A scree slope carries divers down to roughly 20 m before the floor drops away into a near-vertical shaft that technical teams have followed past 100 m without agreeing on a true bottom.
Also known as Chirorodziva.
Where it is and how deep
17.3561° S, 30.1298° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The dive starts well before the water. From the Wonder Hole, a sinkhole with a collapsed roof, steps cut into the rock lead down about 45 m to a gallery at the water's edge, in the Dark Cave chamber that doubles as the dive base. Only then do you kit up and step into water that stays at 22–24 °C in every month, with no thermocline to speak of and visibility that is rarely under 30 m and often well past 50.
Below the surface a scree slope carries the bottom down to about 20 m, an approachable profile for any certified diver on a club-organised visit. Past that point the slope gives way to a near-vertical shaft, and this is where the site turns into a cave dive rather than an open-water one: a trimix dive over the 1968–69 new year reached a silt floor at about 104 m, and a US Navy team is reported to have gone to 135 m in 1992 without matching that report of a floor, so the deep end of the shaft is still not fully resolved.
Divers exploring the shaft in the 1960s and 1970s also found underwater passages leading off it into neighbouring chambers, including a connection to the smaller pool known as Bat Cave. Those routes remain a cave-diving objective today rather than something shown to visiting recreational divers, and access to any of it depends on the club and guide running the trip that day.
Background
The name Chirorodziva, Pool of the Fallen, recalls an 1830s raid in which people were killed and thrown into the water; Frederick Courtney Selous published the first description of the caves in 1888. Divers began exploring the pool in January 1959 and reached about 93 m within that year, with a further cave survey in 1961. A trimix dive over the 1968–69 new year reached roughly 104 m, and a US Navy dive team is reported to have gone to 135 m in 1992, deeper than any other confirmed figure for the site.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Fair |
Season follows Chinhoyi Caves: The pool stays a constant 22–24 °C all year; ratings track visibility, best in the Aug–Nov dry season and reduced when Dec–Mar rains cloud the entrance.
Know before you go
- The shaft below about 20 m is a genuine overhead, cave-diving environment; going beyond the slope without cave training and a qualified guide is how divers get into trouble here.
- The pool sits at close to 1,150–1,200 m altitude, so dive tables or a computer set for altitude are needed, particularly after any deep profile.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Sleeping Pool at Chinhoyi Caves?+
The scree slope that recreational divers use runs to about 20 m. Below that the site becomes a vertical shaft that has been dived past 100 m: a trimix team reached about 104 m in 1968–69, and a US Navy dive is reported to have gone to 135 m in 1992, without the true bottom being settled.
Do I need special training to dive Chinhoyi Caves?+
Only for the deep shaft. The slope to about 20 m is open to any certified diver on a trip with a Zimbabwe-registered club, but going past it into the vertical section is cave and technical diving, and needs the training to match.
Sources
- Chinhoyi Caves — Wikipedia
- Chinhoyi — Wikivoyage
- Chinhoyi Caves History — Scuba World Zimbabwe
- Show Caves of Zimbabwe: Chinhoyi Cave — showcaves.com
- Diving in Zimbabwe — PADI
In The Logbook
- Diving at altitude: why the rules changeBody & health · 7 min read
- Freshwater diving: lakes, springs and quarriesFreshwater · 15 min read
More dive sites in Chinhoyi Caves
Cave & cavern
A guano-floored side pool linked underwater to the main Sleeping Pool shaft
Similar dives elsewhere
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Daylight drops through a collapsed roof into a 37 m (120-foot) chamber
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