During the 2006 expedition to Papua New Guinea, we spent many days exploring on the surface looking for other cave entrances. One particular goal was to find an upstream section of Ora cave, which runs in a fairly straight line from NW to SE. We projected that orientation on a map upstream of Ora and looked for entrances there. We discovered Phantom Pot, which started with 2.5 km of uninviting, tight meandering passage with sharp walls like a cheese grater. We persevered, and slowly it got a bit bigger. All the time it was drafting, which is a tell-tale sign that the cave gets bigger. Eventually our perseverance paid off, and we found ourselves standing in a window, overlooking a huge, slow-moving river. The other wall was maybe 20 metres away and the river reached across the entire span. I don’t know why exactly, but discovering an underground river is a very special and memorable moment that is hard to describe, but everyone is instantly excited and happy. I remember thinking how black the space was after our eyes had become accustomed to working in the small passages.
