Hidden Earth 2023
A new African Master Cave in the Kongo Central?
30 minute Lecture|Bernard Lips, Jean-Philippe Dégletagne & Michael Laumanns

Abstract
In the framework of the Geo-Resources for Development (GeoRes4Dev) project of the Belgian Africa Museum (Tervuren) a small team of African, Belgian, French and German cavers visited the Mbanza-Ngungu area in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (province Kongo Central) in July 2023. Within only two weeks the expedition surveyed about 10 km of passages in 12 caves and made extensive biospeleological collections. Also, some 3D documentation equipment was tested. Only time constraints prevented the expedition to connect Grotte de Ngovo (about 6 km long) with Grotte de Ngungi (currently about 2.1 km long), which, if linked to a joint system, will rank among Africa’s top twenty caves.
More from 2023
Lecture|Fleur Loveridge
The Ario Reality and other Draughting Rifts
Film|Dan Harries
Nagaland caving expedition 2022-2023
Lecture|Andy Goddard and Rob Thomas
Recent Exploration in Northern Thailand
Workshop|Peter Glanvill
Cavers' Just a Minute
Lecture|Andy Farrant
Hot stuff. Looking for hypogenic caves in Southwest England
Lecture|Jonathan Lester
Advancing Archaeological Speleothem Research & Its Future Role In Cave Digs
Film|Nick Thorne
GB Cave: descent of Mendip's tenth deepest cave
Lecture|Rob Watson, Wookey
Should the GPF mandate cave expedition carbon offsetting?
Lecture|Linda Wilson
Forgotten Voices Speak: Recording Historic Graffiti in Kents Cavern
Lecture|Matt Ewles
More discoveries and future potential in the North York Moors