DiveTripPlanner
Sign in
Émergence de Combe Nègre

Lot · about 6 km from Souillac

Émergence de Combe Nègre

  • Max depth15 m
  • CertificationFull cave
  • SpecialSidemount
Add to a trip
Directions

Diving and fills

Dive here with

Do you dive here with guests? Add your centre for free →

Fills nearby

  • The Cave To Be~42 min drive (estimate)Air, nitrox and trimix up to 320 bar (standard 21/35, 18/45, 15/55, 10/50), O₂ up to 220 bar
  • Lot Filling Station (Proteushop)~85 min drive (estimate)Air, nitrox (any %), trimix (incl. 21/35, 18/45, 15/55, 10/70 and custom), O₂ 200/300 bar
All fill stations and places to stay ↓

What it looks like

All 4 videos and posts

Videos and posts

From other divers, via YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. They only load when you click; after that, Google's or Meta's privacy rules apply.

Search for more onYouTube ↗Instagram ↗Facebook ↗

Other people's footage, not advice: how someone else dives here says nothing about what suits your team. Dive within your training.

The dive

Between S3 and S4 you climb 3 m up and down again. After S6 comes 970 m of dry passage, where a fossil section bypasses a part that sumps, as far as S7.

Strong river current at the entrance — rope needed.
Profile and sections

Between S3 and S4 you climb 3 m up and down again. After S6 comes 970 m of dry passage, where a fossil section bypasses a part that sumps, as far as S7. Beyond S7 the cave ends at an impassable boulder choke and a blind chimney. According to Grotto Map the system is ~2.4 km long.

Exploration began in 1973 (Georges Dages); S5 was passed in 1979 and S7 explored to its end in 1987–1990. Not to be confused with the prehistoric Grottes de Combe-Nègre near Frayssinet-le-Gélat.

Practical: only workable in backmount at higher water. Sometimes there is simply no water.

Source: FFS – Source de Combe Nègre ↗Source: Grotto Map – Combe Nègre ↗Source: Pegasus Caving Club – Lot cave diving ↗
Depth and profile
Seven sumps: S1 70 m/-2, S2 50 m/-2, S3 150 m/-3, S4 20 m/-2, S5 500 m/-15, S6 30 m/-1, S7 180 m/-8
Configuration
The entrance is a tube less than a metre across: sidemount or small cylinders recommended.
DPV: Not DPV-suitable
Shallow, short and narrow sumps; only workable at higher water
Who can dive where
  • CaveAt least Full cave
  • Whole caveConfigurations: Backmount / twinset / Sidemount / Small cylinders / no-mount (speleo sumps)
  • Whole caveGoes down to 15 m (trimix or deco may be needed) · doesn't decide who may dive
Dry sections / haulingDepends on water level or swell

This is how the planner decides who in your team may dive this cave. Rules your own trip adds (organizer, a mail, the AI) show with your trip.

Source: FFS – Source de Combe Nègre ↗Source: Grotto Map – Combe Nègre ↗Source: Pegasus Caving Club – Lot cave diving ↗
Cave map

How to get there

Commune of Lanzac, left bank of the Dordogne, between Calès and Lanzac, ~1 km downstream of Le Bastit. Take the path down the valley from the Calès–Lanzac road (or the track from the Lanzac viewpoint), ~200 m to the foot of a cliff; easy parking under the motorway viaduct, but the access road is poor, with potholes and rocks.

Plan your route ↗

Around Émergence de Combe Nègre

Fills2 fill stations · nearest 20 km

  • The Cave To Be

    ~42 min drive (estimate)

    842 rue Émile Zola (D14, Bournazel), 46500 Gramat

    Air, nitrox and trimix up to 320 bar (standard 21/35, 18/45, 15/55, 10/50), O₂ up to 220 bar

    Open year-round (except between the end-of-year holidays), daily 8:30–19:00

    Near Gramat, handy for the sites around Gramat and Padirac. Guided dives in 16 caves of the Lot, at your own certification level (air or nitrox without deco, or one trimix dive with deco). Also courses from cavern to full cave, sidemount, CCR and scooter, rental of overhead gear, a shop and accommodation. Contact: Olivier.

    Website ↗Navigate ↗

  • Lot Filling Station (Proteushop)

    ~85 min drive (estimate)

    180 route de la Tuilerie, 46100 Cambes

    Air, nitrox (any %), trimix (incl. 21/35, 18/45, 15/55, 10/70 and custom), O₂ 200/300 bar

    Daily 9:30–19:30, year-round

    About 20 min from the Ressel. Standard mixes ready to go; order custom blends in advance (WhatsApp). Also a dive shop (Proteushop), rental of scooters, lights and twinsets, and cave training (PSAI/TDI).

    Website ↗Navigate ↗
Where to sleepAround Souillac on Booking.com ↗

The links to Booking.com are affiliate links: if you book through one, DiveTripPlanner earns a small commission. You pay the same.

Other sites6 within 10 km

News

All (1)

Nearby

Articles about cave diving that name a place within 25 km of this site, but no cave by name. They're not necessarily about this site.

Access and rules change: check what applies locally right before your trip. Source: GDELT Project and the news feeds of diving magazines. Search for more news ↗ Searched automatically, last on 11 Nov 2026.

More of the latest in Lot (France): conditions, closures and news →

Going to the Lot with your team?

Marcel finds the sites that match your team's certifications.

Plan a trip
Something wrong, or do you know more?Depth, access, parking, the current situation: let us know.
Sources, sharing and disclaimer

Sources

Source: FFS – Source de Combe Nègre ↗Source: Grotto Map – Combe Nègre ↗Source: Pegasus Caving Club – Lot cave diving ↗
Cave Diving Guide Lot (Stefan Schiemann), p. 79 ↗

Current conditions

Visibility, flow and water levels change quickly. Right before your dive, check what other divers report:

Share

Link to this page

Put this cave on your own site

Paste the code into an HTML block on your website. The block stays up to date by itself and sets no cookies.

Certification requirements, configurations and trimix depths are estimates for planning. Always check them locally and dive within your training. Based on personal notes; page numbers refer to Stefan Schiemann's Cave Diving Guide. Certification requirements are estimates — no substitute for local knowledge. Drive times: from Marcilhac taken from the guide, elsewhere calculated by road (OSRM, OpenStreetMap). The Doux de Coly and six springs that are closed to divers come from public sources (plongeesout/FFS, the CDS46 list of springs with access rules, Sept 2026). The pins of 14 of the 16 sites listed by The Cave To Be (Gramat) on its website come from there (Oct 2026); the Pou-Meyssen pin comes from The Hidden River Project, and the Marchepied pin was checked and kept. Access, sumps, history and hazards of many sites were added in November 2026 from public sources: the FFS site sheets (plongeesout), Spelunca, FFESSM magazines, the CDS46 and Grotto Map; the pins of Meyraguet, Goul Naou and the Oeil de la Doue come from the FFS. In November 2026 the CDS du Lot named by e-mail the 16 springs that divers may visit; the other springs in the Lot are marked closed.