| Anou Ifflis | |
| Depth: | 1170m (3,840feet) |
| Length: | 1800km (1,100miles) |
| Discovery: | 1980s |
| Entrance Count: | 1 |
The Anou Ifflis cave (fr|Anou Ifflis, Anu Ifflis) is a cave located in Tizi Ouzou in the mountains of the Kabylie. It is the deepest cave in Africa at .[1]
The entrance to the Anou Ifflis (aka D3), is located on the edge of the great depression of Ras Timédouine, oriented East-West, under the ridges of the Akouker.
The Speleological Association of Montreuil reached -87m (-285feet) in 1980 and -300m (-900feet) in 1981. The cave was explored by a french interclub expedition from Vaucluse in april 1983 to a depth of -725m (-2,379feet) then during the summer 1983 by both Parisians and Vauclusians to a depth of -975m (-3,199feet). The Espeleo Club Gràcia (Barcelona), in 1985, continued the exploration and stopped at -1007m (-3,304feet). In 1986, cavers from Liège increased the depth to -1159m (-3,802feet).[2] [3]
The entrance opens at the 2150m (7,050feet) elevation by a narrow, vertical passage between the boulders. After a few metres of de-climbing, you reach the top of a first narrow passage with a steep slope ("Le Toboggan").The first few meters of the cavity are difficult and even encourage you to do so... about-face. At the bottom of a 90-metre-deep shaft (P90), the atmosphere becomes different, a large collapse chamber offers several possibilities for progression.This pothole is composite in nature, it combines different forms of digging depending on the depth. From 0 to -210 m, the cave resembles an inactive tectonic chasm (without perennial flow) slightly touched by flows, presenting narrows, shafts and faults.From -210 m to -975 m, the following are successively encountered:
- A meander gallery 300 m long (from -210 m to -300 m), generally well calibrated and embellished with a few vertical notches. A stream from the rivers of the Akouker ridge joins the path.- A succession of large fault pitchs from -300 m to -800 m, in which the stream cascades. The morphology of the shafts is closely linked to the strong relaxation of the massif.- A streamway appears at about -920 m. The -210 m stream here encounters a significant flow of about 10 litres per second at low water which circulates in a cascading conduit.- A meander section alternates deep pools, potholes and ledges.
Finally, after a P134 and a P32, the path ends on a sump at -1159m (-3,802feet).