Kuching Caving News

KUCHING CAVING NEWS

April 25th 2010 A dinner, hosted by Padawan Municipal Council, was held to welcome Martin Laverty on his return to Kuching. Martin was a member of the 1978 Mulu expedition and led the 1983 OUCC expedition to Taang Raya (Baan). Whilst here Martin and his wife joined a survey expedition to Gua Sireh and a hunt for more caves nearTaang Raya. Three undocumented caves with further potential were found. The first picture shows MPP Municipal Secretary Michael Saweng and Datu Sri Robert Ridu greeting Martin.

March 21st 2010 Another old mine was found to contain the most extensive fossil beds yet seen in the Kuching region. Apart from chert beds, fossil deposits are sparse. In this case a dense deposit of gastropods and a fish bone can be clearly seen. The deposit continues over a considerable distance along the wall of the mine.

February 28th 2010 A successful search for an old gold mine in the Bau area also turned up four cave entrances two of which were connected by a short phreatic passage cave (60m). A cave above the gold mine (and largely destroyed by it) could not be reached. The two other entrances have still to be checked. The mine entrance was occupied by a sleepy cave racer pictured.

February 21st 2010
Gunung Pangga was visited for a day to try and find some of the 10 caves reported to be there in the 1950s. Whilst some have been lost to quarrying we found (with the indispensible help of local guides) one cave system with three entrances high up on the mountain and there are at least 4 more to be visited.

February 18th 2010 Unusually heavy rainfall over the mountain resulted in jets of water squirting out of the wall of the cave a bit like a fancy power shower. Our local guide had never seen anything like it! Our guests on the Big Spaces, Cool Streams tour enjoyed the ride out of the swim cave as the rate of flow made swimming unnecessary! Unusually, the main cave has minimal flooding risk as flood water is routed through an unvisited part of the cave system.

February 7th 2010 Kuching Caving visited Tang Raya for two days on behalf of Padawan Council to photograph the cave and assess its potential as a show cave. With 6 Km of passages and the 25th largest chamber in the world there was plenty to assess. Now you can do the same. 2 day trips sleeping in the insurgents camp deep inside the cave. Email us for details. Note the caver in red in the centre of the picture.

April 25th 2010	A dinner, hosted by Padawan Municipal Council, was held to welcome Martin Laverty on his return to Kuching. Martin was a member of the 1978 Mulu expedition and led the 1983 OUCC expedition to Taang Raya (Baan). Whilst here Martin and his wife joined a survey expedition to Gua Sireh and a hunt for more caves nearTaang Raya. Three undocumented caves with further potential were found. The first picture shows MPP Municipal Secretary Michael Saweng and Datu Sri Robert Ridu greeting Martin.
March 21st 2010	Another old mine was found to contain the most extensive fossil beds yet seen in the Kuching region. Apart from chert beds, fossil deposits are sparse. In this case a dense deposit of gastropods and a fish bone can be clearly seen. The deposit continues over a considerable distance along the wall of the mine.
February 28th 2010	A successful search for an old gold mine in the Bau area also turned up four cave entrances two of which were connected by a short phreatic passage cave (60m). A cave above the gold mine (and largely destroyed by it) could not be reached. The two other entrances have still to be checked. The mine entrance was occupied by a sleepy cave racer pictured.
February 21st 2010	Gunung Pangga was visited for a day to try and find some of the 10 caves reported to be there in the 1950s. Whilst some have been lost to quarrying we found (with the indispensible help of local guides) one cave system with three entrances high up on the mountain and there are at least 4 more to be visited.
February 18th 2010	Unusually heavy rainfall over the mountain resulted in jets of water squirting out of the wall of the cave a bit like a fancy power shower. Our local guide had never seen anything like it! Our guests on the Big Spaces, Cool Streams tour enjoyed the ride out of the swim cave as the rate of flow made swimming unnecessary! Unusually, the main cave has minimal flooding risk as flood water is routed through an unvisited part of the cave system.
February 7th 2010	Kuching Caving visited Tang Raya for two days on behalf of Padawan Council to photograph the cave and assess its potential as a show cave. With 6 Km of passages and the 25th largest chamber in the world there was plenty to assess. Now you can do the same. 2 day trips sleeping in the insurgents camp deep inside the cave. Email us for details. Note the caver in red in the centre of the picture.