A Cango Caves tour guide brought the opera to the depths of the earth recently when she was demonstrating to her tour group the acoustics of the caves.
Leigh-Ann Coetzee, a tour guide at the Cango Caves in Oudtshoorn, often wows visitors with spellbinding operatic performances demonstrating the acoustics of the 20 million year-old cave system, and her potential to be an opera star.
According to Blogger and TikTok user Sharon Waugh, who visited the Cango Caves when she was in Oudtshoorn, orchestra performances often used to take place in the Cango Caves.
The Cango Cave tour guide and local resident, Coetzee, went on to demonstrate the great acoustics in the Cango Caves cavern with a stunning performance of an operatic classic, Ave Marie.
Waugh captured the performance on video, sharing it with her audience on TikTok. The clip vent viral and has amassed over 200 000 thousand views.
Leigh-Ann later commented on Waugh’s video, thanking everyone for the support: “Thank you for all the lovely comments, I dearly appreciate it🥰,” she wrote.
@thesharonicles Orchestra performances used to take place in this cavern and it's not hard to see (or rather hear) why. It's hard to tell from this video, but I was awestruck by the sheer volume of this "hall" which could easily accommodate an orchestra and an audience. It turns out there is one here that's three times the size (but not accessible to the public). Thanks so much, Leanne, for singing for us. #cangocaves #acoustics #avemaria #chills #bucketlist #oudtshoorn #travelsouthafrica ♬ original sound - Sharon Waugh
This is not the first time Coetzee has drawn attention online with her Cango Caves opera performances.
In 2022, another family who was treated to the operatic cavern performance by Coetzee shared their experience on Facebook:
Needless to say, many visitors to the Cango Caves think that Leigh-Ann could easily trade the cave stage for those above the ground.
If the over 200,000 views of the video of her singing are anything to go by, we’re sure she’d have South Africans lining up to hear her.
IOL Travel