The Untamed Rivers of New Britain Expedition 2006
The Untamed Rivers Expedition took place from January to April 2006. A nine man team with seven from the UK, one from France and one from the USA together with a three man photographic team from the National Geographic Magazine explored the Ora Doline in the Nakanai Mountains of East New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
The Ora River Cave yielded 1.4 kilometres of passage and Phantom Cave, together with what was believed to be the upstream main river cave leading to the Ora Doline was explored for 3.9 kilometres bringing the total length of the Ora Caves to 5.5 kilometres inluding the short section of the Ora Resurgence.
Triosaurus Cave, a minor vertical system contained a 27m pitch, the deepest shaft descended during the expedition.
Mageni Cave was explored from it's resurgence high in the cliff face above the Eisis River for a distance of 7.2 kilometres making it the second longest cave in the Nakanai Mountains.
The team members were: James Alker; Tom Chapman; Dave Clucas; Andy Eavis; Dave Gill; Herb Laeger; Dave Nixon; Robbie Shone; Jean-Paul Sounier.
Photographic team: Stephen Alvarez; Matt Oliphant; Nancy Pistole.