Mawsmai Caves - A awesome tourist-spot with unbelievable surprises at each step in Cherrapunji, Meghalaya (India)

During my visit to Cherrapunji, the place I loved the most was Mawsmai Caves. It's not like there are not other beautiful places in Cherrapunji but these caves are certainly out of the world and this blogpost would share why do I say that. Sawsmai caves of Cherrapunji are very popular amongst tourists visiting Meghalaya state of North-East India. 

We were driving from Shillong to Cherrapunji and our first stop in Sohra was Mawsmai caves. There is enough parking space at the entry section of Mawsmai Caves and then we headed towards the ticket counter. Entry ticket fee for Mawsmai Caves is 20 rs per person and for camera 20 Rs more. 

Mawsmai Caves of Meghalaya has pretty large number of caves in the Jaintia, Khasi Hills and Garo Hills districts in the Indian state of Meghalaya. During our day in Cherrapunji we went to Mawsmai caves before other places like Seven Sisters waterfalls & Eco Park of Sohra. We went approximately an hour around these caves. There are mainly 2 caves out of which one is pretty difficult to navigate through. 

Of the ten longest and deepest caves in India, the first nine are in Meghalaya, while the tenth is in Mizoram. Isn't that a very interesting fact to know about. I have been to Borra Caves this year which is in south and certainly these are not as long as Mawsmai caves are. 

Beyond ticket counter you climb a bit and reach entry point of Mawsmai Caves of Cherrapunji. Beyond entry of the cave, it starts getting narrower and that's one of the reasons that you are recommended to take off your bags & keep them at the entry gate only. Narrow path inside the caves makes id more adventurous. 

There are lights installed inside the cave, especially around some special places/corners of the Mawsmai caves. These lights help visitors navigate through the cave as well as looking around & enjoying some of the beautiful patterns of stones. In above photograph, some fungus is adding colorful punch to these sepia rocks of Mawsmai Caves in Meghalaya. 

Though Mawsmai caves are long but only 150 meters stretch is open for tourists while the other section is closed. Mawsmai caves have innumerable forms, shapes and sizes inside leaving every visitor wonder how there can be so much in such small space & with huge diversity. This magnificent natural wonder is created over the years due to natural abrasion and underground water carving various shapes through rocks of the caves.

All of the photographs in this blogpost are clicked with my phone camera and the place is so awesome that probably I clicked more than hundred photographs of Mawsmai Caves in Cherrapunji. 

Meghlaya has plenty of caves in general and some of them list their names in are world's largest caves on various parameters. More about Meghalaya caves can be checked on tourism website and I am sure some of you may want to plan your visit in a way that you can explore more of these. 

While exploring Mawsmai Caves, we took lot of stops on our way through the caves to click these photographs. There are certain places where lighting is beautiful for clicking creative portraits. Some of us could get some good clicks which I chose not to share here, as I didn't take permissions for the same. 

Mawsmai cave has a spacious opening but it soon squeezed into a narrow path & there are spots where you need help from others to cross safely. 

Mawsmai cave is home to various flora and fauna and makes a good home for bats and insects, for obvious reasons. It is one of the best places for history lovers and experience seekers but may not be recommended for old age people and kids. That also tells me that dress you wear may play a role in navigating through the cave. E.g. - Indian sari can make things difficult and saying this as one of the visitors had been facing this issue & after a while she was little scared to go further.  

There are places inside the Mawsmai cave where visitors need to bend and squeeze themselves out. While getting inside the cave, one can see constant dripping of water from the roof of the cave and the innumerable forms of stalactites and stalagmites. Further, visitor can also observe how the roof and the floor of the cave are joined together to form the iconic pillars.

We visited Mawsmai caves in the month of november and lot of folks recommend that monsoons is a better time given that caves are filled with water as well. Personally that doesn't sound like an exciting idea to me and even if that has to be done, be prepared with right kinds of footwear & raincoats etc. 

Above pattern looked like a folded hand downwards pointing with a finger. There are so many objects to observe in these patterns. At times it's fun and sometimes it becomes intolerable - depends upon creative observations we make :). There is second cave which I missed but some of my friends went inside and it seems it was pretty narrow & difficult in comparison to the main cave at Mawsmai. 

Enjoyed this visit to Mawsmai Caves and hope to visit other caves in Meghalaya soon.