Introduction

People everywhere are always fascinated by records, such as biggest, longest, deepest etc. But there is no set standard for defining "large" or "big". These terms could refer to the floor/surface area, or to the volume. Measuring volume has been inaccurate in the past as it was hard to measure the cave height in the days before distos (laser distometers).

The caves of Peninsular Malaysia hold no records in terms of length or depth, unlike those in East Malaysia. The caves in Mulu National Park in Sarawak are large and long, and include record holders like Clearwater Cave, the longest in Southeast Asia, and 10th longest in the world at 175 km (July 2010). Clearwater could also be the world's biggest cave in terms of volume. Sarawak Chamber in Gua Nasib Bagus is the world’s largest underground chamber (determined by surface area, not volume), largest underground chambers . Deer Cave was considered to be the world's 'biggest/longest' passage until April 2009 when it was announced that a larger passage had been explored by British cavers in Vietnam, in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh Province. Son Doong Cave is said to be 150m at the highest point, and 90m wide, (averaging maybe 80m x 80m) and maybe 4.5 km long (some reports say 2 km). Deer Cave is 328 feet (200m) high and 295 feet (140-150m) wide, and only about a mile (1.6 km) long, (info gathered from www sources). This makes Son Doong almost twice the size of Deer Cave. However another BCRA expedition in Apr 2010 found that Son Doong was larger than first thought. Cavers explored further and discovered a new 2 km long chamber. This measures 250m high and 200m wide compared to the largest section found last year which was only 150m high and 200m wide. The cave has several hectares of forests growing inside it with trees rising up to 40m. In White Rock Cave, Api Chamber is the world's 9th largest underground void (Descent 189, 2006). More than 325 km of cave passage has been mapped in Mulu (2007). In contrast, the longest cave in Peninsula Malaysia is a mere 4.8 km. However these are all mere babies compared to the world’s longest, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, USA, which is 627 km (July 2010).

The longest cave in the Indian subcontinent is Krem Liat Prah/Um Im/Labbit in Meghalaya, India, 30.957 km (March 2008).

The world’s deepest cave is in Georgia (USSR), and is 2190m deep (Aug 2007). Malaysia’s deepest cave is Gua Kulit Siput in Gunung Buda at 470m, closely followed by Bridge/Cloud/Cobra System in Mulu (Sarawak) at 460m.

Gunung Api in Mulu, at 1682m, is the highest limestone mountain between north Thailand and New Guinea.

There are a few tiankengs in Sarawak. A tiankeng is defined as a collapse doline at least 100 m long, wide and deep, and with perimeter walls that are close to vertical (Zhu and Waltham 2006). Waltham lists Sendirian and RMAF Hole in Mulu as tiankengs. He defines the Garden of Eden as a mega-doline or tiankeng, and suggests that Sarawak Chamber may one day collapse to form such a feature.

Longest caves of south east Asia

	CAVE	PLACE	km	SOURCE
1	Gua Air Jernih system *a	Malaysia	175.6	BCRA exp 2009
2	Benarat - Moon - Cobweb system	Malaysia	50.5	BCRA 2005 & Mulu caves
-	Phong Nha system *e	Vietnam	44.5	Mouret 2004
3	Terikan system *b	Malaysia	32.57	BCRA 2005
4	Nam Non System *c	Laos	29.5	Ghommidh 2010
5	Green Cathedral system	Malaysia	26.97	Gulden 12.05
6	Salukkan Kallang –Tanette *g	Indonesia	24.25	Spelunca 23 1997
7	Saint Paul Cave *d	Philippines	~ 24.0	Piccini 2007
8	Hang Khe Ry	Vietnam	18.9	IC 25 1999
9	Luweng Jaran system	Indonesia	18.0	IC 1992
10	Tham Chom Ong System	Laos	15.827	Laos 2010
11	Bridge - Cloud - Cobra System	Malaysia	15.5	Mulu caves
12	Hang Vom *f	Vietnam	15.31	IC 2003; 2009 report
13	Tham Phra Wang Daeng	Thailand	13.844	D.Smart 2000-04, Ellis
14	Tham Mae Lana	Thailand	12.60	Canberra SS 1986, Ellis
15	Nam Hinboun	Laos	12.40	IC 25 1999

*^a Gua Air Jernih system = Clearwater, Whiterock (60 km) and Blackrock
*^b Terikan System = Terikan East/Terikan West, Terikan Rising & Blue Moonlight Bay
*^c Tham Nam Non published length is 22.1 km, explored and mapped 25 km. In 2010 it was connected to Tham Song Dang, 4500m, giving a system of 29.5 km. Note that there are other caves in the Khammouane area of Laos which are known to be between 10-20 km in length, have not been published, so they should not really be included. For more information see Brouquisse, International Caver (1999) No 25.
*^d aka Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, said to be the world’s longest navigable underground river, 4.5 km (tourist reports say 8.2 km)
*^e is actually a hydrological system of separate caves so not included in ranking.
*^f Hang Vom is part of the 36 km long Hang Vom System, where the caves are connected hydrologically but not physically.
*^g Gua Salukkan Kallang 12,263 m , Gua Tanette 9,472 m , apparently connected.

Source:
Ghommidh 2010 email
IC - International Caver
Mouret 2004 - in Gunn Encyclopedia of Caves & Karst Science
Piccini, L. et al (2007): Nuove esplorazioni nel carso di St.Paul. / Recent speleological explorations in the St.Paul karst. Kur 9, Supplement, Technical Notes, (15pp).

Longest caves of Peninsular Malaysia

Relatively few caves in Malaysia have been surveyed, so cave lengths are often not known.

	CAVE	STATE	length m	SURVEY DATE
1	Gua Tempurung	Perak	4800 #	1995/7
2	Gua Kelam 2	Perlis	3748	1992/96
3	Gua Baba / Lo Po Sang	Perlis	2900 #	1999
4	Dark Cave	Selangor	2000+ #	various
5	Foh Thye Wang Ulu	Perlis	2117	1996
6	Gua Puncak Lanno	Perak	1584	2001
7	Gua Selari	Perak	1309	2001
8	Gua Kandu	Perak	1100	2001
9	Gua Anak Tempurung	Perak	1100	2001
10	Gua Selatan	Pahang	1070 ~	1990
11	Gua Lanno	Perak	985	1999, 2001
12	Kong Fook Ngam	Perak	792	2001
13	Gua Puing / The Ruins	Perlis	754	1998
14	Wang Burma	Perlis	700 ~	1992
15	Gua Bintang	Perlis	687	1998
16	Gua Kera Mati	Perak	667	2001
17	Gua Ta'Boleh	Perak	630	2001
18	Gua Kelawar	Perak	580	1993 unfinished
19	Gua Monophyllaea	Perak	568	2001
20	Gua Gatsch	Perak	516	2001

# these lengths are only approximate

(List created in 2005)

Chambers UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Here is a list of some of the large chambers found in Malaysian caves. Note that the measurements given may not be exact as they vary from source to source, and some surveys were done before accurate 'distos' were available, and data on cave surface area and volume is scarce. Also the parameters depend on the way the survey was done. Volume is estimated using an average size of the passage. More details about cave morphometry can be found in Gunn, Encyclopedia of Caves & Karst Science.

	CHAMBER	PLACE	surface area (sq.m.)	volume (cubic m.)	dimensions, l, w, h (m)	source
1	Sarawak Chamber	Mulu	160, 000	12	700 x 400 x 70	Gunn
2	Api	Mulu	58,000	3.14	300 x 200 x 100	MyCaves
?	Tang Baan	Kuching	???	???	450 x 150 x 20	OUCC
?	Alam	Gua Tempurung	???	???	250 x 130 x ?	Gebauer survey
?	Gergassi	Gua Tempurung	???	???	200 x 150 x 75	Gebauer survey
?	Lanno Summit Chamber	Gua Puncak	???	???	190 x 60 x 55	Geyer et al

3D laser scanning

The 3D mapping of caves with laser scanners has been tried in England and other European countries over the past decade, but has never really caught on. The best use for it seems to be to determine the size (volume) of large chambers. And for a 3D tour through caves for armchair cavers!

In Oct 2009 I was invited to join a group from UTM who were trying out a scanner in caves in Lenggong in Perak. Their idea is to scan caves "to generate a hyperaccurate 3D maps with 2mm resolution within a 25m radius. It can effectively scan every aspect of the cave including its speleobiology". I have my doubts about the latter claim, as most cave fauna would not be visible. It was then suggested it could help bat researchers to identify species. However I think this is not very practical, and certainly not down to species level, and bats would still have to be caught and identified, or else bat detectors used. Although the claim is it can detect anything above 6mm in its 120m range, and 2mm in a 25mm range, this certainly won't show bat species, and definitely not the smaller cave creatures.

One problem is transportation, as the scanner in its box weighs about 24 kg and out of the box about 14 kg. It comes in 4 sections. It's easy enough to scan in a chamber with a single set-up for the laser scanner, but would become very tedious in a cave passage needing multiple set-ups.

The scanner has a rotating mirror that directs the laser beam into the area of measurement. Distances are determined by the phase shift of reflected laser beam opposite the transmisison beam. With the help of the angle of the rotating mirror and the angle of the laser scanner, the module calculates the coordinate and stores the data. Procedure is repeated several hundred thousand times per second.

The largest stalagmite in the world is reported to be in Cueva Martin Infierno, Cuba and is about 70m high and 20m in diameter (Dreybrodt & Romanov), although Dave Bunnell gives a more precise figure of 67.2 m. Son Doong Cave in Vietnam is said to have stalagmites more than 70 m high. The largest one that I know of in Malaysia is Gergasi (the giant) in Gua Tempurung in Perak, and is an estimated 32m in height, with a circumference at the base of about 49m (although other estimates say 50m and 65m high).

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© Liz Price 2005 - 2010

Page updated 18 Aug 2010