Meghalaya’s ‘mawsmai’ caves: speleologists map the longest cave system in South Asia

Speleologists have now mapped more than 1,700 caves in Meghalaya, including the Krem Puri — a 24-kilometre labyrinth that ranks among the longest cave systems in South Asia.

The caves, carved by rainwater through the state’s limestone, are a natural archive: some hold bones of species that no longer walk the hills above.

Only a handful of the mapped caves are open to tourists, and the state is weighing how to share the wonders without losing them to souvenir hunting.