Boesmansgat, also known in English as "Bushman's Hole", is a deep submerged freshwater

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

(or

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

) in the Northern Cape

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, which has been dived to a depth of . Boesmansgat was believed to have first been explored by amateur diver Mike Rathbourne, in 1977. The greatest depth attained was by

Nuno Gomes Nuno Miguel Soares Pereira Ribeiro (born 5 July 1976), known as Nuno Gomes, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was given the nickname ''Gomes'' during childhood after Fernando Gomes, and was regarded ...

in 1996, diving to a depth of . Its altitude of over makes this a particularly challenging dive, requiring a decompression schedule equivalent for a dive to at sea level. Gomes' dive was a close call, as he got stuck in the mud on the bottom of Bushman's Hole for two minutes before escaping. On 24 November 2004, Verna van Schaik set the Guinness Woman's World Record for the deepest dive by diving down to a depth of . In October 2022 Karen van den Oever broke her own Guinness World Record as the world’s deepest diving woman when she descended to . feet using open-circuit equipment.

Deaths

*In 1993, Eben Leyden died after blacking out at a depth of 60 meters (197 ft). Leyden was brought up immediately by diving buddy Boetie Sheun but could not be revived. *In 1994, while helping a team prepare for a dive,

Deon Dreyer Deon Dreyer (7 August 1974 – 17 December 1994) was a South African recreational diving, recreational scuba diving, scuba diver who died in Bushman's Hole in South Africa. Cave diver David Shaw (diver), David Shaw died more than 10 years ...

died on ascent at a depth of . Dreyer's body remained in the cave until being discovered ten years later at a depth of by cave diver Dave Shaw. *On 8 January 2005, Dave Shaw died after becoming tangled in the line while attempting to recover Dreyer's body. (Shaw's close friend and support diver, Don Shirley, nearly died as well and was left with permanent ear damage that has impaired his balance.) On 12 January 2005, Dreyer and Shaw's bodies were ultimately recovered near the surface, while members of the dive team were recovering technical equipment, which included a camera that filmed Shaw’s last moments in the water.

In literature

Mo Hayder Beatrice Clare Dunkel (born Clare Damaris Bastin; pen names, Mo Hayder and Theo Clare; 2 January 1962 – 27 July 2021) was a British author. Earlier in her life she worked as an actress and model under the name Candy Davis. She went on to wr ...

's novel ''Ritual'' (2008), the death of the parents of one of the protagonists while diving in Bushman's Hole is an important plot device.

References

Caves of South Africa Underwater diving sites in South Africa Sinkholes of Africa {{Underwater-diving-stub