The American caving expedition to Gunung Buda in Sarawak (see PA Mar 2000) finished in early March and was very successful indeed in terms of discoveries. About 25km of cave passage was found and surveyed, with many leads left for the new expedition.

There is now a total of 85 km of caves in Buda, so Buda can be classed as of international importance. Unfortunately illegal nesters are destroying the cave fauna and covering the caves with graffiti.

The expedition also looked at some caves in Gunung Benarat. They pushed known caves and almost linked up 2 caves, and if this connection is made it would mean a passage right through the mountain. One of the caves has some suberb formations, such as aragonite crystals which are said to surpass those in Lechuguilla in USA. It is one of the best decorated caves in the world.

The next US expedition is planned in 2002, with a team of Brits going out in late 2000. However, the current expedition had a very unhappy ending when the SBC (Sarawak Biodiversity Council) stepped in, and with armed guards detained the expedition leader and biologists. They were accused of illegally collecting rare specimens of cave fauna. In actual fact the expedition had applied for permits April 1999 but by the time the expedition had finished in March 2000, the permits had still not come through. Even the camp cook was forced to fill in a form for illegal collecting! The team was fined RM20,000.

The specimens were confiscated by the SBC, despite the collections having been made in the name of the Forestry Department. It is obviously a turf war between the SBC and FD. Had the FD retained the specimens, they would have sent them to the US for taxonomic work, but now they are in the hands of the SBC, the samples will probably go to waste and will never be identified - it is doubtful whether there are any cave fauna specialists in Sarawak or even in Malaysia. According to the SBC and press reports, there were rare specimens confiscated - how do the SBC know they are rare if no taxonomic study has yet been made. And contrary to press reports, the cavers definitely have no intention of using the cave fauna to make wonder medicines and drugs and make lots of money.

I don't know what the outcome will be by the time this newsletter is published, but I would appeal to those bodies that can help, eg. MNS, WWF, etc, to request to the SBC that as the cave fauna samples have been collected, legally or illegally, rather than waste them, could they at least give permission for the samples to be sent to relative specialists for identification. This will be of benefit to the Sarawak state, Malaysia, and also the international caving community, especially if new species are found.