Anou Ifflis

The Anou Ifflis cave (French: 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 1,170 metres (3,840 ft).^[1]

Anou Ifflis
Leopard Chasm
Interactive map of Anou Ifflis
Location	Algeria
Depth	1,170 m (3,840 ft)
Length	1,800 kilometres (1,100 mi)
Discovery	1980s
Entrances	1

Location

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.

Exploration

The Speleological Association of Montreuil reached −87 m (−285 ft) in 1980 and −300 m (−980 ft) in 1981. The cave was explored by a French interclub expedition from Vaucluse in April 1983 to a depth of −725 m (−2,379 ft) then during the summer 1983 by both Parisians and Vauclusians to a depth of −975 m (−3,199 ft). The Espeleo Club Gràcia (Barcelona), in 1985, continued the exploration and stopped at −1,007 m (−3,304 ft). In 1986, cavers from Liège increased the depth to −1,159 m (−3,802 ft).^[2][3]

Description

In the Emria river of the Leopard's abyss (Anou Ifflis) in Algeria, at a depth of -950 m.

The entrance opens at 2,150 m (7,050 ft) elevation as a narrow, vertical passage between boulders. After a few metres of descent, the top of a first narrow passage with a steep slope ("Le Toboggan") is reached. The first few meters of the cavity are difficult and even make you want to... turn back. 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 pitches 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 134m Pitch and a 32m Pitch, the path ends on a sump at −1,159 m (−3,802 ft).