Recently, young aspiring adventurer Trevor Frost returned from a research caving expedition with a group of savvy pros. The team of archeologists, scientists and students were sponsored by the National Geographic Society and explored caves in the African country of Gabon. To help the team find their way in the depths of these dark crevices under the Earth, we sponsored Trevor and his cronies with a bunch of headlamps to help them reach their goals. Here’s a list of what they accomplished:
(1) Discovered the longest cave in Gabon (Grotte Mbenaltembe) at 2.4 kilometers long (1 km longer than the previous record).
(2) Explored 15 caves, 11 of which were newly discovered by the team with the help of locals.
3) Measured and Mapped 13 caves. A total of 5.5 km of cave passage were mapped! A huge geographical addition to Central Africa.
(4) Discovered a beautiful 1 km long river cave, perfect for possible eco-tourism ventures.
(5) Found and photographed five distinct species of frogs inside the caves (a rare phenomenon). One of which is potentially new to science.
(6) Amassed 10,000 photographs including photos of most of the fauna we encountered inside and around the caves (included frogs, a poisonous snake (Blanding’s tree snake), amazing Geckos, and pseudo scorpions).
(7) Working with WCS to form a report that will be used to further lobby UNESCO into protecting the caves as a world heritage site. The caves are currently candidates.
(8) Performed Africa’s first recorded cave rescue. The team had a two-thousand pound slab of rock fall onto one of their team members legs. They were able to rescue him but he severely traumatized the nerves in his legs. Doctors say over the course of a year his leg should recover!
(9) Have sparked interest in future karst/cave research in Gabon and more importantly in Central Africa. The Democratic Republic of Congo is the next target. Bigger and more beautiful caves are out there!
