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03/13 - Caving in the Abode of the Clouds 2003
Simon Brooks (with Annie Audsley, Nicola Bayley, Mark Brown, Dr Tony Boycott, Pete Dowswell, Paul Edmunds, Roger Galloway, Martin Groves, Dan Harries, Andrew Harp, Tony Jarratt, Derek Pettiglio, Fraser Simpson, Jayne Stead & Fiona Ware from UK plus 7 cavers from Germany, 1 each from Austria & Switzerland and 9 from the local Meghalaya Adventurers' Association). February-March 2003
'Abode of the Clouds' is the literal translation of the Sanskrit word 'Meghalaya', the name of the 21st state of India. Although there had been previous caving expeditions to the state (including MEF Reference 98/51, also led by Brooks) this was one of the largest multi-national teams ever to visit. In a marathon effort covering two specific areas - Shnongrim Ridge and the Borsora Garo - 47 'new' caves were visited, and the locations of 90 others recorded, whilst 25.7 km of new passage was explored, photographed and surveyed, bringing the local total to almost 240 km. Many caves started with a 60-90 metre deep entrance series broken into 3 or 4 pitches giving access to many kilometres of large streamway and trunk passage. A Meghalaya Cave Data Base has been created which currently records 750 cave sites, of which only 252 have so far been explored.
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