Shillong, March 24 A multi-national team of explorers has discovered over 22 km of new cave passages in Meghalaya during an expedition in February, including major river systems and previously unknown caverns, officials said on Tuesday.
The ‘Caving in the Abode of the Clouds Expedition 2025’, conducted from February 2-28, mapped a total of 22,663 metres of previously unexplored cave systems across the state, they said.
Supported by the Meghalaya Adventurers Association and sponsored by the state government, the expedition involved 24 cavers from Austria, Germany, India, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom.
During a pre-expedition phase in East Khasi Hills district, eight caves were explored, yielding 6,210 metres of new passages, including key discoveries such as Krem Riblai, Krem Khla, Krem Wallang and Krem Shanguh 1.
The main expedition focused on the Jongria area and Muallian Spur near Tangnub village, where an additional 16,453 metres of cave systems were mapped, the association officials said.
The most significant finding was Lungchung Khur, a 13,618-metre-long river cave, “now ranked as India’s 10th longest cave and the ninth longest limestone cave”, featuring extensive river passages and calcite formations, they said.
In total, 27 caves were explored, of which 18 were newly identified.
“This expedition once again shows that Meghalaya remains one of the most important caving regions in the world, with vast systems still waiting to be explored,” association member Brian Daly Kharpran said.
He said the discoveries highlight the scale and scientific importance of the state’s underground river systems, adding that large portions of Meghalaya’s limestone terrain remain unexplored.
The expedition also aided scientific research, including the collection of specimens of Neolissochilus pnar, considered the world’s largest known blind cave fish, for conservation purposes.
In a separate expedition in South West Khasi Hills district earlier this year, explorers extended the Krem Amarsang cave system to 1,564 metres, with several passages still unexplored.
The findings are part of the long-running ‘Caving in the Abode of the Clouds’ project, which has been exploring Meghalaya’s caves since 1992.
With the latest additions, the total mapped cave length in Meghalaya has reached 573.6 km, the officials added.
