The New York Times published an interview today with Mr. Zana Qasim Haider
He indicated he is the only caver in Iraq. He says there are 1,000 caves in the Kurdish region. He also indicated in the article that some of the bigger ones were near the tourist areas of Kurdish region. The article mentioned that one of the caves has "2 enormous bats." Here is some further information: A caving club in Berlin has published something on their findings in the area: http://www.speleo-berlin.de/php/abstracts.php?volume=26&lan=EN<http://www.speleo-berlin.de/gb_publikationen.php> Here is one of the caves: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesdale10/2333566609/ And here is another news source inviting tourist to the area: http://voanews.com/english/2008-07-09-voa10.cfm Here is a map of all of the Kurdish areas including Iran and Turkey: http://mondediplo.com/focus/iraq/IMG/jpg/arton2074.jpg David Locklear
