Hiking in Israel - the Chinese Hole

 
“Do one thing every day that scares you!”

The Chinese Hole is a deep, vertical cave set in a karst landscape in the settlement of Ofra, northeast of Jerusalem. When discovered by explorers from the Israel Cave Research Center in the 1980s, it wasn’t clear how deep the cave went, and they joked it must go all the way to China. Now it is known that it reaches a depth of 60 meters.

I joined a group of hikers and arrived at the site early Friday morning. We were outfitted with head lamps and helmets, prepared for our descent. The opening is about 1 meter x 1.5 meter, and entering the cave requires a bit of crawling. Hitting the low ceiling, I was glad I was wearing the helmet.

Amazingly, spelunkers from the Center have constructed a series of metal steps and ladders inside the cave, so no rappelling is involved. Still, parts of the descent, especially when hanging onto a rope ladder when passing through a narrow vertical crack in the rock, are quite challenging.

The final part of the descent is on iron ladders. The first ladder is about 20 meters high, and the second one is about 30 meters. In between the two there is a platform where you can observe a nearby crevice filled with stalactites.

At the bottom of the pit is a small, muddy area. There is one further pit a few meters deep, but it’s not equipped with a ladder. After a few minutes of rest, we began our climb back to the surface.

The ascent is done in the same manner. It requires time, effort, and patience, as you must wait for the person above you on the ladder to keep climbing.

I must admit, I hesitated about going into the Chinese Hole. It’s not that I’m claustrophobic or afraid of heights, but I didn’t know if I could handle the challenge. But, I entered the cave, descended to the bottom, and came back to the surface. I am happy that I did it!