Atea Cave
The Niugini Speleological Research Expedition conducted a brief visit to the Atea Cave in 1973, which kicked off the cave's exploration. Muller 76, an Australian expedition, went on to extend the cave to 4.6 kilometers of tunnel.
The cave was the major goal of the Atea 1978 expedition, a well-organized Australian-led expedition with 50 people from five countries, and it was surveyed to be over 30 kilometers long and 143 meters deep, making it the southern hemisphere's longest cave at the time.
Several enormous breakdown chambers, a long and majestic main riverway, and an unusually large number of branch systems and smaller tunnels are among the cave's many remarkable characteristics.
Since 1978, a modest number of additional visitors have increased the cave's depth to 350 meters and length to 34.5 kilometers.
Location: Atea Kananda, Southern Highlands, Papua New Guinea
