Death holes in Uganda: who drilled deep mines in rocks

Ugandans call these perfectly round openings in the earth "Burrows of death of the god Valumba. Scientists believe that their appearance can be explained completely earthly reasons. In places of mass congestion of these holes, in the vicinity of Tanda Hill, worshipers of the god cult constantly live, and the number of travelers who are not afraid to touch the secrets of the other world increases with each season.

Uganda is an African country located in the center of the continent near Lake Victoria. On the hill of Tanda, as well as in other places of the country, many round holes were found extending vertically deep into the earth. Specialists counted more than 200 mines located in different places of the hill. These holes resemble mines with a width of about 0.5 meters and a predominant depth of 3–9 meters, although holes up to 70 meters deep have been discovered.

It is striking that the holes are made in rock, and their walls are incredibly smooth and neat. Naturally, it is impossible to make such mines manually, most likely, they were drilled using some kind of tool, but only who?

European researchers of these strange holes in the 1920-1950s counted more than 200 mines in Uganda, which are combined into 9 groups. In one of the groups, traces of kaolin mining were found - varieties of white clay, so it was suggested that the other holes could serve for kaolin mining or were made in the process of searching for minerals. In one area of Uganda, these mines were used to store food and acted as refrigerators. But this is more of a secondary use of existing facilities, and not the root cause of their appearance, since local residents are not involved in their appearance. Scientists could not establish the exact age of these holes.

Some Ugandans have their own opinions on how vertical round shafts arose in the earth. One local legend says that the god of death named Valumbe was expelled from heaven to earth. He was pursued by another god named Kaikuzi. In order to hide from him, Valumbe began to dive underground and left many holes to confuse the pursuer. The place where Valumbe was forever hidden underground is especially carefully guarded by the servants of an unusual cult: it is covered by a large number of objects and surrounded by pointed spears.

Tourists are often brought here, they are told this legend and show round holes in the ground. It is strongly discouraged to break away from the group and explore the surroundings yourself. On Tanda Hill, mines are scattered everywhere, and most of them are hidden from view by rugged tropical vegetation, so there is a great risk of falling into one of them.

Fans of everything mystical and unusual rank Tanda Hill as places of power, but many travelers frankly say that all these legends were created only to attract tourists, and do not see anything supernatural in these holes in the ground. Although the question of their origin is still open.