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  • BBC Science Focus Magazine

    CONQUERING THE UNDERGROUND EVEREST

    Apr 14, 2021 6 minutes
    WORDS JHENI OSMAN
    IMAGES
    ROBBIE SHONE

    Oranges, reds, yellows... a kaleidoscope of colour. It was like walking in the Alps in autumn. Truly amazing.” Israeli geologist Boaz Langford is describing one of the vast caverns in Dark Star – a huge cave system tucked inside the Baisun- Tau mountain range in an isolated region of Uzbekistan. Langford was part of the international team of scientists and cavers who explored the system in 2014.

    “In another branch there are frozen lakes; elsewhere, huge waterfalls. The variety of sights is incredible. Every area is different. Dark Star is like no other. Totally unusual. I’m a scientist, and not very religious, but there is something spiritual about that place.”

    Political instability and its remote location have kept the depths of Dark Star (named after a 1974 sci-fi comedy film) hidden from human eyes. But in 1990, a British team managed to reach one of the entrances © and so exploration of this dark underworld began. Around 17km of passages, along with additional entrances,

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