This dude Clifford lives with his dog in a cave in South Africa
Alongside an old railway in Wilderness you’ll find Kaaiman’s Grotto. A museum of the weird and wacky, this cave helped save Clifford. He’s got fresh water, but with no electricity, he lights candles instead
When I first touched down in South Africa a few months back, I was planning to do it all; Table Mountain, swimming with sharks, a safari. My backpack was bulging with clothes, but I’d brought along a bucketload of enthusiasm too.
Seventeen days later, as the plane tyres hit the tarmac back in Dubai, my initial to-do list was etched in over-zealous ticks. But when people asked me how my trip was, it was my brush with a man and his cave that dominated my tales from South Africa.
The man in question was Clifford — affectionately known as Cliffie to locals. Make no mistake here, he is a modern day cave man; a man who lives in a cave.
The day we met was unplanned, unexpected, but his story was uplifting.
Take a five-hour drive North-east from Cape Town, and you’ll stumble upon a little place called Wilderness. With its endless beaches and smalltown feel, it has many hidden gems — Kaaiman’s Grotto being the stand out.
I’d travelled from Mossel Bay on that day; just 50 minutes away — so it made for the perfect day trip.
As I made my way down a winding, abandoned railway track hidden along the seaside, the sheer cliff face to my right couldn’t have been more of a contrast to the wide open ocean to my left. The track lay on the old Outeniqua Choo-Tjoe railway line, which fell into disuse following landslides in 2006. As the overgrown grass brushed up against my legs, I was hit with a pang of curiosity at seeing signs of life ahead. That’s because Wilderness is true to its name. It is every bit as wild as it sounds. The never-ending railway track — although eerie by sound — was charming by sight. But with only the clash of the ocean waves beside me, that sign of life offered some welcome respite from the silent isolation.
Up ahead was a man with a dog. He was bald, casually dressed, but wore a wide smile. As I got closer he introduced himself — it was Clifford. You could tell he was keen for some human interaction and he told me to pop by his place just up ahead: “You’ll know it when you get to it,” he said. And he wasn’t wrong.
As I walked on another 150m, a small wooden deck caught my attention. It was adorned with sea shells — all different shapes and sizes — hanging like a baby’s mobile. The décor was eccentric, and a wooden signboard read: Kaaiman’s Grotto.
Clifford said it was a “divine force” nine years earlier that led him to this abandoned seaside shelter.
And much like its exterior, a walk through the cave revealed yet more eccentricities. It was a hidden trail of unusual trinkets, photos and books. This place was more than just a cave. It was a museum of the weird and wonderful. More than just a hollow space beneath rock, it had a great story — as did Clifford.
Kaaiman’s Grotto helped save him; it turned him into a “new man”. A former drug-addict, he said he first stumbled on the cave back in 2008 to seek refuge from his turbulent life. Now, he calls it home.
Today, Clifford helps run the place as a kind of shelter for anybody: “single parents, troubled teens, anyone”. With no supplied electricity, candles and torches offer light from the dark, but fresh water, a toilet, and cooking facilities are all in full working order.
Once a bustling restaurant frequented by passersby on the railway, the cave was left to rot after business went bust in the mid 2000s. But Clifford helped breathe new life back into the cave — and the cave helped “breathe new life” into him.
With a warm presence and many stories to tell, if you ever find yourself rambling along that train track in Wilderness, drop by and have a chat with Clifford. You won’t be left disappointed.