Meghalaya’s ‘river caves’ festival: spelunking’s coming-out party

Meghalaya’s first dedicated caves festival, held in the rain-soaked hills above Cherrapunji, took 2,000 visitors underground — through limestone chambers, underground rivers and bat colonies the size of cities.

Guides led ‘river caves’ expeditions where visitors wade through passages carved by water, while the surface world above dealt with its annual 11 metres of rain.

The festival’s message is simple: the wettest place on earth is also the most hollow.