The cave is 24.5km (15 miles) long and covers an area of 13 sq km
The world's longest cave in sandstone was recently discovered in India's north-eastern state of Meghalaya. Soutik Biswas joined a group of speleologists for a glimpse of this unique cave.
"If you get lost inside, you may never be able to find your way out," warns Brian D Kharpran amiably, jabbing his finger at the unkempt entrance of a sinister-looking cave.
After trekking downhill for nearly an hour through a forest's mossy trees and plants, we are at the mouth of Krem Puri, which translates from the local Khasi language to Cave Fairy.
At 4,025ft (1227m) above sea level and overlooking a deep valley, the opening is at the base of a steep cliff. The cave is 24.5km (15 miles) long and covers an area of 13 sq km - twice the size of Gibraltar - in lush green Mawsynram, reputed to be the wettest place on Earth. Up until February, the 18.7km-long Imawari Yeuta in Venezuela was the world's longest such cave.
Mr Kharpran, a remarkably agile 71-year-old banker, knows a thing or two about caves. He has been discovering them for more than a quarter of a century in this hilly, rain-drenched state.
Two days in an underwater cave running out of oxygen
Divers in Mexico have discovered the 'world's longest' cave
When he began exploring in 1992, there were a dozen known caves in Meghalaya.
Twenty six years and 28 expeditions later, he and a 30-strong international team of cavers, geologists, hydrologists, biologists and archaeologists have discovered more than 1,650 caves in the state. Meghalaya is now known to be home to some of the world's most complex cave systems; and has more caves than any other place in India.
Back at Krem Puri, we are ready to go in.
Wearing hard hats and headlamps, we plunge into the darkness. On the left, there's a low, small passage. If you want to make your way through this claustrophobia-inducing hole in the rock wall, you need to wear caving suits so you can crawl on your belly, hands and knees. I am not wearing one, and so a "tight crawl" is completely ruled out.
Cavers need to crawl on belly, hands and knees in low passages
On the main passage, two enormous boulders stand in the way in a cheek-by-jowl formation . You can climb over or try shuffling along sideways to get ahead. I clumsily try doing both, and my shoe almost gets stuck in a treacherous looking gap between the rocks. We step over water-slicked stones, and find a faint stream. During the monsoon rains, this would possibly turn into a torrent.
Mr Kharpran spots a big spider on the wall, and we also find what geologists suspect is a fossil of a shark tooth embedded in a rock.
"The cave," he says, "holds many secrets."
Krem Puri is an incredibly complex maze of hundreds of short passages and long stretches of corridors that are interconnected in a big network. The pattern of the maze is quite unique, and makes the cave a real labyrinth. It has some fine stalactites and stalagmites. There's also abundant fauna - frogs, fish, giant Huntsman spiders, bats.
"It is a serious challenge to survey this cave," says Thomas Arbenz, a Swiss speleologist and cave topographer.
You get a sense of it when you look closely at the map of the cave and spot the striking names surveyors have given to passage walls, pits, ledges and large rocks on their underground journeys.
The world's longest cave in sandstone was recently discovered in India's north-eastern state of Meghalaya. Soutik Biswas joined a group of speleologists for a glimpse of this unique cave.
"If you get lost inside, you may never be able to find your way out," warns Brian D Kharpran amiably, jabbing his finger at the unkempt entrance of a sinister-looking cave.
After trekking downhill for nearly an hour through a forest's mossy trees and plants, we are at the mouth of Krem Puri, which translates from the local Khasi language to Cave Fairy.
At 4,025ft (1227m) above sea level and overlooking a deep valley, the opening is at the base of a steep cliff. The cave is 24.5km (15 miles) long and covers an area of 13 sq km - twice the size of Gibraltar - in lush green Mawsynram, reputed to be the wettest place on Earth. Up until February, the 18.7km-long Imawari Yeuta in Venezuela was the world's longest such cave.
Mr Kharpran, a remarkably agile 71-year-old banker, knows a thing or two about caves. He has been discovering them for more than a quarter of a century in this hilly, rain-drenched state.
Two days in an underwater cave running out of oxygen
Divers in Mexico have discovered the 'world's longest' cave
When he began exploring in 1992, there were a dozen known caves in Meghalaya.
Twenty six years and 28 expeditions later, he and a 30-strong international team of cavers, geologists, hydrologists, biologists and archaeologists have discovered more than 1,650 caves in the state. Meghalaya is now known to be home to some of the world's most complex cave systems; and has more caves than any other place in India.
Back at Krem Puri, we are ready to go in.
Wearing hard hats and headlamps, we plunge into the darkness. On the left, there's a low, small passage. If you want to make your way through this claustrophobia-inducing hole in the rock wall, you need to wear caving suits so you can crawl on your belly, hands and knees. I am not wearing one, and so a "tight crawl" is completely ruled out.
Cavers need to crawl on belly, hands and knees in low passages
On the main passage, two enormous boulders stand in the way in a cheek-by-jowl formation . You can climb over or try shuffling along sideways to get ahead. I clumsily try doing both, and my shoe almost gets stuck in a treacherous looking gap between the rocks. We step over water-slicked stones, and find a faint stream. During the monsoon rains, this would possibly turn into a torrent.
Mr Kharpran spots a big spider on the wall, and we also find what geologists suspect is a fossil of a shark tooth embedded in a rock.
"The cave," he says, "holds many secrets."
Krem Puri is an incredibly complex maze of hundreds of short passages and long stretches of corridors that are interconnected in a big network. The pattern of the maze is quite unique, and makes the cave a real labyrinth. It has some fine stalactites and stalagmites. There's also abundant fauna - frogs, fish, giant Huntsman spiders, bats.
"It is a serious challenge to survey this cave," says Thomas Arbenz, a Swiss speleologist and cave topographer.
You get a sense of it when you look closely at the map of the cave and spot the striking names surveyors have given to passage walls, pits, ledges and large rocks on their underground journeys.
