Grootslang
그루트슬랑
Legend, unconfirmed: the Grootslang, a giant snake said to live in a deep cave called the 'Wonder Hole' in the Richtersveld, South Africa. Its name is Afrikaans for 'big snake', and the cave is said to be full of diamonds and to tunnel all the way to the sea, 64 km away. The elephant-like head comes from modern retellings, but real diamonds really are found in the gravels of the nearby Orange River.
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- Country
- South Africa
- Kind
- Legendary creatures
Quick answers
Where is Grootslang?
Grootslang is in South Africa.
The Grootslang is a legendary giant snake said to live in a deep cave called the Wonder Hole in the Richtersveld, a dry, rocky corner of northwestern South Africa. Its name is Afrikaans and Dutch for "big snake". It is a cryptid, which means an animal people tell stories about but that scientists have never found.
Old tales say the cave is full of diamonds and that the snake guards them. Many pictures today show the Grootslang with an elephant's head and trunk, but that look is quite modern. The older stories describe a long serpent, about 12 to 15 metres long, with no elephant parts at all.
What the legend says
According to the legend, the Grootslang lives in the Wonder Hole, also called the Bottomless Pit, which some versions say reaches all the way to the sea about 64 kilometres away. The cave is said to be packed with diamonds, and some stories even give the snake diamonds for eyes. In another version the cave is linked to the Orange River by a natural pipe that slowly washes diamonds into the water. One story also places the monster in a pool below the King George Cataract at Augrabies Falls.
Legend versus facts
No one has ever shown that a giant snake lives in the Wonder Hole. In the stories, the few people who went down found only bats and their droppings. The elephant-headed look comes from writers in the 21st century and from mixing the Grootslang up with other African water monsters. So the tale of a diamond-guarding serpent is folklore, and the trunk is a recent addition.
Fun facts
- The elephant-headed Grootslang of today's pictures is a modern idea: older South African tales tell of a giant snake guarding a diamond-filled cave called the 'Wonder Hole'.
- The name Grootslang simply means "big snake" in Afrikaans and Dutch.
- In the old stories the snake was about 12 to 15 metres long and left a track roughly 90 centimetres wide.
- The elephant-headed Grootslang is a modern idea, not part of the oldest tales.
On the globe
The toy globe marks the Grootslang in South Africa's far northwest, where the Wonder Hole is said to be. Zoom in to look for the legendary snake.
Nearby on the globe
Sources
Updated: 2026-10-14