Mamo Kananda, Limestone cave system in Southern Highlands, Papua New Guinea.
Mamo Kananda is a limestone cave system beneath the Muller Plateau containing roughly 54.8 kilometers of passages and chambers. The network reaches depths of 528 meters and forms a complex maze of connected underground sections carved through the rock.
The first exploration of this system began in 1973 when the Niugini Speleological Research Expedition entered the caves and made significant discoveries. These early missions led to ongoing investigations that gradually revealed the full extent and complexity of the underground network.
Local communities call this system Atea Cave, and it holds deep meaning as part of the region's water landscape that supports life above. The underground waterways here influence how people in surrounding villages depend on and understand their relationship with the land.
The main entrance sits at the bottom of a 300-meter deep doline and requires specialized equipment and expert guides for safe passage. Visitors planning to explore need proper preparation and should only enter with professional support and experience.
Inside this system lies the Space Oddity chamber, a colossal underground void measuring over 1 million cubic meters in volume. This vast space demonstrates the extraordinary scale that geological processes can achieve over millions of years of water carving through stone.
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