EuroSpeleo 2016
The Cave at the Source of the Nile
Oral|Mr Robin Weare
Abstract
To be honest it was the Blue Nile and, although we were told it was the source I think it could certainly be described as a source. To be totally upfront about this; we were about 3,700m up Mount Guna in Ethiopia and at a rising which is the highest feeder of Lake Tana, which is the source of the Blue Nile, so maybe the locals are right.
It all started in November 2015 when Hailu Menale, a Lecturer at Debre Tabor University, stumbled across a couple of caves during a field trip. He hit the internet and contacted the Fort Stanton Cave Study Project in New Mexico. They contacted George Veni of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute. He contacted Chris Howes, the editor of Descent, and Chris contacted me. I then contacted Hailu & suggested he might like to try to find a few more caves; three weeks later he was able to tell me he now knew of 48.
This is the story of the expedition which followed ……..an expedition to a previously unknown caving area where we found caves in Churches, caves in rock we couldn’t identify, the largest single cave chamber in Ethiopia and, on the final afternoon, The Cave at the Source of the Nile.
More from 2016
Oral|Prof Baojian Huang
Jinfo Cave and its Sediment Sequences in Jinfoshan Karst, South China
Oral|Dr Timothy Moulds
Subterranean and surface cryptopid centipede diversity in Western Australia.
Oral|Dr Nadja Zupan Hajna
HIGHLIGHTS OF SLOVENIAN KARST AND CAVES
Oral|Miss Catherine Moody
China Caves- A Journey into the Unknown
Film|Mr James Newton
CINEMA: India or Bust: A Caving Trip by Double-Decker Bus
Poster|Mr David St Pierre
Poster: The new edition of the Grotte Casteret (Gruta Helada de Casteret) Annotated and Illustrated Bibliography.
Poster|Mr ALEXEY ZHALOV
Poster: Chinese – Bulgarian Expedition in Gaolingongshan Mt. , South West China
Oral|Mr Michael Laumanns
Middle East A reminiscence of 4 expeditions to Iran and Iraq between 2000 and 2007 (M. Laumanns, Speleoclub Berlin)
Poster|Dr Andrew Smith
Poster: 12,000 years of rainfall history revealed by stalagmite deposits from Cueva de Asiul (Matienzo, N. Spain)
Oral|Miss Oana Chachula
The history of exploration in Șura Mare Cave (Romania)