Upon entering the entrance chamber one is immediately conscious of the increased humidity and pleasantly warm temperature. A faint musty odour may point to the presence of a small colony of bats which still make the cave their home.

You catch your breat as the first view of VAN ZYL'S HALL opens up before you. Ancient stalactites, aptly known as The dried tobacco leaves of Oudtshoorn, festoon the grey-blue of the limestone ceiling. This spacious hall is over 90 metres long, 50 metres wide at its widest point, and between 14 and 18 metres high. Nearly 100 metres of solid limestone roof separates the cavern from the ridgecrest above.

Leaving Van Zyl's Hall through a wide passageway, you enter the spectacular BOTHA'S HALL, with its decorative side-chamber, The Throne Room. Glancing to the left as we enter Botha's Hall, we see a formation resembling the beak of a Giant Eagle, feeding its chick. Botha's Hall is dominated by two completed columns soaring upwards to the ceiling.

Leaving the Throne Room and Botha's Hall, you ascend a staircase, pass a hollowed out stalagmite known as The Pulpit, then proceed through a narrow passageway into the RAINBOW CHAMBER.

Against the back wall, in the eerie glow of lights, we make out the head of Old Nick, the tame Cave Devil, posed in profile. Immediately above the viewing platform, bathed in soft, blue light, is the cavern's Biblical Section. High against the wall we may see an open Family Bible.

Beside it, the Outstretched Lost Wing of an Angel. Below, directly in front of the viewing platform, is another hollowed-out stalagmite known as The Christening pont.

A flight of steps leads into the BRIDAL CHAMBER with its fourteen-post bridal bed. The bride may be spotted in the kitchen to the rear, sitting on a low stool and weeping quietly to herself. A clue to her tears may be found in the Peach Brandy Bottle, prominently displayed on a rock mantlepiece. Active stalactites drip constantly from the low roof above.

Fairyland, the next chamber, provides fantasy for the younger generation. Coloured lights illumine the Fairy Queen's Palace (or Cathedral), The Fairy Castle, an inverted Sunflower, and even the bizarre 'upper plate' of an enormous set of dentures. Here, too, the first helictites may be observed, twisting against the ceiling in frozen motion.

The Drum Room, 500 metres from the entrance, provides the first major turn-back point on STANDARD TOUR. In this chamber there is also a striking example of a translucent formation. Alongside it a stalagmite resembling a Bushman hut lends fantasy to the presentation of "Sunrise and Sunset over darkest Africa".