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Indonesian students discover new caves in Maluku national park
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For over a month, members of Mapala UI have studied four locations in the dense forest of Manusela National Park, discovering 30 cave mouths. (Mapala UI/File)
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nature lovers’ community from the University of Indonesia (Mapala UI) has discovered new caves in Manusela National Park on Seram Island, Maluku, during the 2017 Manusela Speleology Expedition (MSE).
For over a month, members of Mapala UI have studied four locations in the dense forest of Manusela National Park, discovering 30 cave mouths. Six have been mapped by the team, which comprises eight students who will continue the expedition until Sunday to explore a total of nine areas.
Team leader Ade Luthfi said in a press release that the expedition was part of an effort to inventory forest caves located in Seram Island using a geographical approach.
Read also: Jomblang Cave, a vertical cave with heaven-sent view
Manusela National Park is said to have great speleological potential, which led the team to choose it as a research destination. The study covers cave searching and mapping through Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing, two methods reportedly rarely used by cave researchers in Indonesia.
Ade expressed his hopes that the expedition would benefit both local tourism development as well as Indonesian speleology.
“The data [we gathered from the expedition] will be published for science and the development of Indonesian speleology,” added Ade.
The 2017 Manusela Speleology Expedition kicked off on July 26. In addition to speleology, the club also conducted an Indonesian flag-hoisting ceremony in Hatu Saka Cave, the deepest cave in Indonesia, to commemorate the nation’s 72nd Independence Day. (kes)
