I'm off to Easter Island in October for a few days and there are plenty of lava tubes there.    I need more information/surveys etc.  Has anybody been, or know anybody that has been caving there?  I know the Polish went in 2005 and surveyed loads but I can't find any contact details.

Chrissy

JASKINIE 1 (26) 2002 Magazine of the Polish Speleological Society [In Polish with English summaries] A4, 34 pp many colour and b & w photos, surveys. available from Jakub Nowak, ul. Ehrenberga 36a, 31-309 Krakow, Poland.


Rapi Nui 2001 by Andrzej Ciszewski.  During November and December 2001 a fifteen man team, lead by Andrzej Ciszewski visited Easter Island.  The expedition was organised under the auspices of the Explorers Club, the Rector of Santiago University and the Institute of Easter Island.  For 8 days the team concentrated on three areas: the Poike peninsular on the eastern side of the island, the Rano Roraku volcano and the Roiho lava field.  Several caves with a total length of 2300 m were surveyed and their entrances located using GPS equipment.  The most interesting caves are Ana te Pahu, Ana Vai Teka and Ana o Keke.  Ane te Pahu is the longest in the island.  Prehistoric tools made of obsidian, hearths and bones were found in the caves.  The most interesting were cracked human skulls, probably the result of cannibalism. 

Copy in BCRA & WSG Library

JASKINIE 4 (41) 2005 Magazine of the Polish Speleological Society [Polish with English summaries] A4  32 pp, illus.  Available from: Jakub Nowak, ul Ehrenberga 36a, 31-309 Cracow, Poland, price 5.50 Zlotys. ISSN 9-771234-434008.  Deposited in BCRA National Caving Library.

This is a fine glossy caving magazine from Poland, full of the latest news from all over the world.  It describes a new cave in Mexico, Sotano de la Culebra ?360 m, and some new discoveries in the Demanova Doline in Czechoslovakia.  Picos de Europa in Spain was revisited, this time the Central Macizo area was studied.  Finally, there is a report on the 14th Congress of Speleology in Greece.


RAPA NUI 2004 by Andrzej Ciszewski.  Andrzej Ciszewski Agnieszka Gajewska and Zdzislaw Jan Ryn visited Rapa Nui (Easter Island) during 3-10 December 2004, on a recce for a future expedition aimed at making a speleological inventory of the island.  All the caves are in volcanic rocks; nearly 110 of them have been surveyed already.  The longest of them, some being nearly a kilometer long, are those in the Roiho lava field.  The caves have been intensely used by the local population for dwelling and burial, hence exploration requires close cooperation with, and permission from, the locals.

Thanks, I will try to get a copy.