Boybuloq Cave
Boybuloq Cave
Boybuloq Cave is also known as Boy Bulok or Boj Buloq is a limestone cave with the depth of 1,415 meters which makes it Central Asia’s and all Asia’s deepest cave. The cave is located in Hisar mountain range in Southern Uzbekistan around 30 km north from the town of Boysun and 50 km west from Denau. It lies above Dehibolo, Uzbekistan’s highest village, with the cave entrance located 2,650 meters above sea level. Boy Bulok cave was first explored by speleologists in 1984, and following expeditions have mapped 14,800 meters of ways. Standing in a remote location the cave entrance area is inaccessible from late January to mid-April due to snow.
At the lowest detected level, a water-filled siphon currently blocks further exploration. The cave could connect with nearby Vishnevsky Cave, and reach much deeper and become the deepest cave in the world but further research is needed to prove this. The cave includes fossilized dinosaur footprints, and the upper entrance has long been visited by locals accessing a nearby spring for daily water usage in the arid region. In 1971 a local resident entered to look for water during a period of drought. However, he did not return and remained missing despite searches conducted by local people. The speleologists found his body in 1985 and found and returned the body to the nearby village.
After the Independence of Uzbekistan, the expeditions resumed in 2007 and later a 25-man joint Russian-French-Swiss group of expeditions that carried out from 2018. The same year expeditions spotted more than 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) of new passages in the caves and discovered several promising leads for new explorations.