Indonesia 1985-2001. Expeditions of the Association Pyreneenne de Speleologie.. SPECIAL ORDER BHB Volume 59

Expedition-style speleological exploration of Indonesia was started on Sumatra in 1977 by a Spanish team from the GESM Barcelona, when they visited western Sumatra. However, most knowledge on the karst of Indonesia was gathered by the French "Association Pyreneenne de Speleologie (APS)", who started exploration in the Maros karst of Sulawesi in 1985 and returned to Indonesia on an almost annual basis until 2001 and visited many karst areas all over the archipelago, often together with Indonesian speleologists. They released excellent reports with many detailed cave surveys and in-depth biospeleological data, all of which are presented in this publication for the first time in English language. Extensive karstological data (morphology, hydrology, water chemistry, climatology...) were also gathered during those 15 years. These scientific results were included in the APS caving reports as well as in specialized publications. The longest caves known in Indonesia is Luwang Jaran (Java, Gunung Sewu) at 18,200 m. Many of the other long Indonesian caves were explored by APS, such as Gua Salukkan Kallang (Sulawesi Selatan, Maros, Kappang) at 12,263 m, Leang Assuloang at 10,400 m (Sulawesi Selatan, Maros, Pangkadjene), Gua Tanette (Sulawesi Selatan, Maros, Kappang) at 9,692 m, and Gua Batu Lubang (Halmahera) at 8,685 m. Also many of the deepest caves known in Indonesia were surveyed by APS. In English.