Afghanistan Cave World Heritage
Kalai Ghamai Caves
6 °C inside, all year.
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data), CC BY 4.0, with relief shading from Copernicus WorldDEM-30
The descent
The entrance, at 2,729 m.
The real relief above Kalai Ghamai Caves, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
2,729m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
6°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
105m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
6 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 6 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 25 °C at the entrance, 20 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket.
- -1°-15°Jan
- 1°-13°Feb
- 7°-5°Mar
- 13°0°Apr
- 18°3°May
- 23°6°Jun
- 25°8°Jul
- 24°7°Aug
- 20°3°Sep
- 14°0°Oct
- 7°-4°Nov
- 2°-11°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Caves in Afghanistan
Kalai Ghamai Caves is a cave in Afghanistan. The entrance is at 2,729 m. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Bāmyānnearest town · 3.6 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 2.4 km from the entrance
- Kabul International Airport (KBL)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 133 km in a straight line
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 2other cave entrances within 3 kmKalai Ghamai Caves, Qoul-I Akram Caves
- 1viewpoints within 3 km
- 12hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmAgha Khan Guest House, Garzandoi Guest House, Governor's Guest House and 9 more
- 1restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- marked hiking routes within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- car parks within 2 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 km
- campsites within 8 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Bāmyān3.6 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Kalai Ghamai Caves.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Peakyas20 mountains within 10 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | -1 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 18 | 23 | 25 | 24 | 20 | 14 | 7 | 2 |
| Afternoon | -1 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 18 | 23 | 25 | 24 | 20 | 14 | 7 | 2 |
| Night | -15 | -13 | -5 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 0 | -4 | -11 |
| Rain (mm) | 35 | 40 | 50 | 45 | 25 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 28 | 22 |
| Rainy days | 6 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Sun hours/day | 5.9 | 6.0 | 7.3 | 8.0 | 10.4 | 12.9 | 13.3 | 12.9 | 12.0 | 9.9 | 6.5 | 5.7 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 19 | 22 | 15 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 16 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | -1 | -1 | -15 | 35 | 5.9 |
| Feb | 1 | 1 | -13 | 40 | 6.0 |
| Mar | 7 | 7 | -5 | 50 | 7.3 |
| Apr | 13 | 13 | 0 | 45 | 8.0 |
| May | 18 | 18 | 3 | 25 | 10.4 |
| Jun | 23 | 23 | 6 | 11 | 12.9 |
| Jul | 25 | 25 | 8 | 9 | 13.3 |
| Aug | 24 | 24 | 7 | 9 | 12.9 |
| Sep | 20 | 20 | 3 | 10 | 12.0 |
| Oct | 14 | 14 | 0 | 12 | 9.9 |
| Nov | 7 | 7 | -4 | 28 | 6.5 |
| Dec | 2 | 2 | -11 | 22 | 5.7 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (2,729 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 58% | 67% | 381% | 425% | 255% | 41% | 85% | 7% | 14% | 542% | 228% | 209% |
| 2021 | 18% | 16% | 45% | 44% | 109% | 0% | 161% | 149% | 1,031% | 249% | 38% | 41% |
| 2022 | 280% | 66% | 77% | 34% | 500% | 132% | 282% | 282% | 117% | 63% | 904% | 72% |
| 2023 | 110% | 113% | 92% | 78% | 58% | 57% | 110% | 39% | 6% | 63% | 59% | 15% |
| 2024 | 107% | 183% | 115% | 168% | 72% | 132% | 249% | 253% | 26% | 249% | 59% | 28% |
| 2025 | 84% | 80% | 88% | 9% | 1% | 62% | 171% | 243% | 166% | 119% | 15% | 183% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Kalai Ghamai Caves
Afghanistan
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 2,729 mEntrance altitude
- 6 °CInside, all year
Qoul-I Akram Caves
Afghanistan · 1 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 2,554 mEntrance altitude
- 7 °CInside, all year
Darra-e Kur
Afghanistan · 296 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 1,590 mEntrance altitude
- 13 °CInside, all year
Teshik-Tash
Uzbekistan · 354 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 864 mEntrance altitude
- 16 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q65953830) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.You are here
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
birdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit 
forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit