ShowCaveBlog

Some days ago, an international expedition, most of them from Great Britain, some from India, a few from other countries published their results. They meet once a year at Meghalaya, a small northeastern Indian state. This state is exceptional, as it is mostly a limestone plateau with immense rains, hence the name: Meghalaya which translates Abode of the Clouds.

This expedition happens once a year, and every year between 20 and 30 kilometers (!) of cave are discovered and surveyed. Thats impressive and a result of enormous caves, which are almost completely unexplored. This year they had a result, which they had several times before: they increased the length of a cave breaking the Meghalayan length record. As most of India’s caves are unexplored, this cave automatically becomes the longest cave of India too. The news was published and reprinted by various newspapers, but it was just a bit for the “miscellaneous” section. We would not have mentioned it on this blog.

But now something funny happened: the Indian Air Force (IAF) undertakes caving activities in Meghalaya! 15 air warriors from the Eastern Air Command will make a seven-day expedition into Nongkhlieh, Wahshlkhar, Khaddum, Camphe and Lumshong caves.

Probably just some guys from the air force who like spelunking. We have no idea how they could train for war in a cave. But we recommend to leave the wings outside…

Air force expedition to new cave

Floyd Collins, tragic hero of the Kentucky Cave Wars, cave explorer and martyr, is going to the cinema. A Hollywood studio and the homepage of the director now released the information, that they will make a movie about his life, or better about his death. Floyd Collins wil be played by Billy Bob Thornton. The movie is still in pre-production.
Although I understand why he is so popular, why his story is so interesting, I am not really happy about what he did. He killed himself by ignoring almost any rule for safe caving. I suppose he knew the rules, so I do not accept that his death was an accident. It was not a suicide either, he did not want to die. But running across a four lane motorway during rush hour is never a good idea. I guess – if it had existed 80 years ago – he would have become a Darwin Award Nominee.

We will see how Billy Bob Thornton will realize this story. He will be director and play the role of Floyd Collins. The movie will be based on the book Trapped: The Story of Floyd Collins by Robert Murray and Roger Brucker. Hopefully he will explain why people should not cave alone. And when its out in a year, we will check if it is as good as the Billy Wilder version.

A lava tube located at Villaverde on the island Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands, has been developed with paths and electric light and was recently opened to the public.

The cave opens in the middle of the village, a visitors center at the entrance was newly built and offers infrastructure like a small shop and a cafe, an interesting museum and the access to the show cave.
Show Caves of Spain: Cuevo del Llano
Cuevo de Llanos, La Oliva Fuerteventura