Here's something to keep you awake tonight. It is from page 44 of
"Guangxi 2005," an expediiton report published last May in Britain.
Please, don't anybody mine this for wine-making tips.-- Mixon
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
TNT HORROR - YU LONG DONG EXPOSED
By Emma Porter
Yu Long Dong, or Desecrated Cave, is more like a working mine than a
cave. Ged and Bruce, together with Chinese cavers, had commenced the
survey in March 2004 and I had heard them speak about meeting stal
workers in the cave. Marci and I undertook two consecutive surveying
trips into this fossil system, which is a significant cave in its own
right.
The entrance accommodates a couple of water tanks, water which is used
for the village in times of drought. The cave itself seems to provide
the biggest source of employment for the village and locals
accompanied us on both trips.
After a slightly shaky start, as we had difficulty locating the 2004
survey station, we left Oxford Circus in the pursuit of discovering
what lay beyond the question mark on the map. We were following a huge
single passage, adorned with massive calcite bosses but which on
closer inspection had been stripped bare. Perilous pieces of bamboo
scaffolding straddled even the very top of the bosses in the stal
thieves' attempt to mine the cave. We found huge 4m sawn-off stals,
bound in rope and resting on bamboo poles, ready to be extradited out
of their home of the cave. Hundreds of smaller sawn-off formations
could be found lined up, ready for removal to the outside world.
We continued the entire trip, following this single passage, shadowed
by three locals and listening to the squawks of cave swiftlets. The
end of the passage was reminiscent of Claytondale and it was like
reaching the peak of a mountain as we finally attained the top of the
slope which merely closed down.
We were horrified on the way out when one of the Chinese cavers who
was with us, started filling his bag with formations that had been
lined up. Not only was he stealing from the cave, he was stealing
someone's hard work, gave his tackle bag to the stal miner to carry
out and was quite happy to pose for a photo with the evidence of his
crime! Marci and I were left speechless at such action
Our horror continued the following day as we explored TNT Passage for
800m, passing bosses, gours, cave pearls, two noticeable craters and
then the destruction commenced. Bamboo scaffolding hung abandoned from
the ceiling of passages, explosives had been used to make tunnels
through calcite bosses that blocked passageways, 2m sawn-off curtains
were found left abandoned in the middle of a chamber, the bare core of
formations remained, stripped naked of all their glory amongst a sea
of shattered fragments of calcite which covered the floor. The
desecration seemed worse than Jiang Zhou Cave System, maybe because it
felt more like a mine with the use of explosives. We could see the
formations ready to be transported out and we could witness the stal
mining happening in front of us in real time.
It was about 10pm when we exited, having left a couple of dubious
leads and finishing the day at a muddy sump with just under 1 km
surveyed. We arrived back at the Taliban Wagon (our expedition 4WD
transport) to be greeted by locals who proudly invited us into their
home where a pig had been killed in our honour. Our host was very
friendly, allowing us to wander around, showing off his television and
he found it highly entertaining that we were totally mystified by the
dried millipedes in his kitchen, apparently for use in his wine-
making!! Many photos were taken, food eaten, wine drank and we
eventually left our friendly reception and headed into the black void
of the night.
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