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Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Ari Atoll location page.
Overview
Boesmansgat, or Bushman's Hole, is a challenging deep submerged freshwater cave in South Africa's Northern Cape. Renowned among technical divers for its extreme depths, it has been dived to over 280 meters. The high altitude of 1,500 meters further amplifies its demands, requiring extensive decompression planning. It holds records for deep scuba diving.
Briefing note
Permits are required for diving Boesmansgat. Specialized technical diving equipment and experience are essential.
What you'll see
0 species curatedSightings evidence
1 record on file- low confidenceFreshwater Cave Fauna
- Last confirmed
- No confirmed record on file
- Recent records
- 1 within 0 km
Inferred presence of general freshwater cave adapted organisms, specific species undetermined due to lack of data.
Sources & methodology
How we summarise this
We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.
Sources
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
- OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
- iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
- WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
- FishBase — FishBase Consortium
- Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
- REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation
Conditions
| Month | Water | Visibility | Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 10–15 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Feb | 10–15 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Mar | 10–15 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Apr | 10–15 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| May | 10–15 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Jun | 10–15 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Jul | 10–15 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Aug | 10–15 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Sep | 10–15 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Oct | 10–15 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Nov | 10–15 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Dec | 10–15 °C | 10–20 m | none |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Next step
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