Photo: Grzegorz Kuśpiel

Unfortunately, both caves were barred with fallen rocks. They were only shallow pitches grown with thorny plants.
The majestic massif of Mount Kafan reaching over 3,000 m was the next area of our exploration. On February 13 we moved to the village of Framin, one day away from Telefomin, were we had stayed before. Framin is the last human settlement on the way to Oksapamin.

IMALFOL TEM

After four days hike along almost invisible soaked trail our guides, and porters at the same, stopped at the edge of enormous cave pitch - Imalfol Tem (topographic data: 141^o 49' 032" E, 05^o 13' 624" S, entrance elevation 2,280 m above sea level). The entrance was situated at the bottom of a karst crater overgrown with wet tropical thicket.
The cave entrance diameter was about 25 m and it lowered to - 60 m. Big tree ferns surrounded the entrance and there was the air of mystery over this dim place. Sweltering air smelled with rotten

Photo: Grzegorz Kuśpiel

plants and bat droppings.
We threw down quite a big stone. Eight seconds passed and the bang of rock crushing into dust reverberated throughout. Disturbed bats woke up from their daily nap and started circling over our heads, screaming terrifyingly. Their filmy wings were almost 120 cm wide.
Further the cave had a typical Alpine character. Raw, dirty rust limestone. No dripstones. Ledges and pitches falling down one by one and what is more, ubiquitous water, making our passage even harder. Yes, water was not a trifle problem to overcome in our cave.
Planning our expedition I followed French examples. So as the French do, I ordered light, sympatex overalls. Also, we did not take warm inner overalls to lower the weight of our equipment. And it happened to be a mistake in the case of our equatorial cave.
Cold water poured straight on our heads from each side, no flat place to set our kitchen, and only 8oC irrevocably.
Biting cold on one hand, and shortage of people to continue expedition on the other. As I mentioned, our team consisted of only eight people, but only five of us appeared in front of the Imalfol Tem entrance.

Photo: Grzegorz Kuśpiel

Two of our colleagues were forced to come back to Jayapura with festering wounds caused by insect bites. And one more left in Telefomin so as to keep radio contact. As a result, our exploration teams consisted of two and three cavers.
During all our stay in the very heart of Papua jungle we were accompanied by our porters from the village. It was them who built two shelters where fires were being burnt day and night. When we run out of food the porters changed into experienced hunters. Their most fragment prey was spotted cuscus (Phalanger maculates) inhabiting canopies or black tree kangaroo, which Latin name was Dendrolagus ursinus. Neither did they refuse hunting birds, which, after several days of our stay by the cave, changed their routes, scrupulously avoiding flying over our camp. Our porters counted into delicacies larvae of some species of bark beetle. They wrapped thick and fat larvae into leaves and smoked over campfire. Delicious!!!

On Sunday February 25, with practically no food reserve and having only 140 m of rope, we conducted our last exploration and measurement action in Imalfol Tem cave. Sun was shining brightly outside. It was a rarity here while several hour - long down - pours were regular weather. Good omen, I thought, starting my descend into the first pitch. In the cave there was less water than usual. Cascades, which were a nuisance from the very first ledges, changed into hardly visible trickles. After four hours we reached the site where we stopped 48 hours earlier, at the top of a huge, rumbling waterfall disappearing somewhere down in an abyss.

Photo: Grzegorz Kuśpiel

Backing from that site last time we spotted a muddy and crumbly ramp, which could help us in omitting the cascade. Now, we decided to try this way. After a 50-meter traverse we reached the pitch again. The waterfall, where we stood by before, now was rumbling on the other side. Climbing down the rope I suddenly felt a gale-force draught, which was sweeping away water from the waterfall falling some ten meters away. Thousands of drops swirled around and dropped down into the abyss 40 meters wide. This was Something Big - a site that wouldn't fail to thrill a caver. We threw a stone down. The bang of a crushing rock was heard after some ten seconds. When we started to clear the rope we heard the second tap from somewhere down there… Enormous pitch must have been at least 200 meters deep!!!
The first measured part of the pitch was as deep as 90 meters. Getting down such a long distance without contact with the pitch face and partly in underwater cascade brought us unforgettable emotions. We reached the ledge, which stood on the way of our waterfall. We threw down a huge boulder. One, two, three… ten, eleven seconds and a tremendous bang again!!!

We hammered in next anchors and the rope from the bag went over the pitch, and then - a surprise. We became left with the last 20 meters of the rope. So it was a fair excuse for our withdrawal. We made use of all the 700 meters of the rope brought here from Poland. And we run out of the food supplies. The time came to go back and start the preparations for expedition NAMBAWAN 2002. We managed to explore the cave to -383 m. In addition, we discovered among the others the caves Ukumsem Tum, Rom Tem situated in the neighbourhood. Considering the fact that the potential possibilities of the massif are estimated at over 1,500 m, it may be our future number one on the southern hemisphere.

Time of expedition: January 31, 2001 - March 08, 2001
Region of exploration: Papua New Guinea, Sandaun Province, the Viktor Emanuel Mountains, massif Mount Kafan (vicinity of Telefomin)
Members: Łukasz Anielski, Łukasz Gawor, Grzegorz Kuśpiel (the leader of expedition), Rafał Kasprzyk, Dariusz Piętak (Speleoklub Dąbrowa Górnicza), Mariusz Polok, Paweł "Edek" Szwed, and Zbigniew "Stanley" Wiśniewski .