This page was translated from Hebrew and has not been reviewed yet. The Hebrew page is the reference. עברית

Katar Pai, Afea Ridge

Grid ref.: 160378/051491
Location: Center of the Afea Ridge
Elevation: 466 m above sea level

Description of the cave:

Katar Pai is a drip spring flowing from the ceiling of a wide overhang located at the bottom of a waterfall in a channel that descends from the west of Mount Saraf southward and drains into Nahal Afea. The overhang space developed at the base of the Shivta Formation and its location appears on the regional maps.

The width of the overhang entrance is about 30 m and its height is about 2.5 m. From its entrance the overhang develops northward and continues for about 25 m, over which its width is maintained but it gradually becomes lower toward its end. From the ceiling at the end of the overhang space a drip spring flows, whose water collects in small pools on the floor of the overhang. Near the water pools there are walls built of fieldstones that form partitions between parts of the overhang. In the ceiling of the overhang, at the point where the water drips, there are coarse cave deposits (mainly stalactites and flowstone) covered with green moss, a product of the little light penetrating from the opening of the space.

The floor of the overhang is covered with goat droppings.

Notes:

Those arriving from upstream along the channel must bypass the waterfall (at whose bottom the overhang is located) from the east.
No bats were observed in the cave.

Written by: Boaz Langford