CAVING must rank among the most exotic and least practised activities in Bulgaria. Helectit is one of the most popular Sofia caving clubs. Founded 36 years ago, it is one of the most active Bulgarian clubs which explore caves and potholes all over the country.

It has 23 members, predominantly students, and their primary activity is making maps and ensuring the preservation of newly discovered caves. The maps and reports of every cave they explore are available in the club's public records.

Co-founder Alexei Zhalov, who is a member of Bulgarian Speleology Federation, said: "A new cave is always a new discovery of big importance to various sciences. I would go so far as to say that cave exploration alone offers different opportunities for many discoveries to be made in different areas. It is always very exciting to find a new cave, enter and then to explore it. I have done it for many years and will continue to do it. I find my job very interesting and a little bit strange compared with the sort of jobs most people are familiar with.

"The exact process of cave exploration takes a long time. The first stage is the finding, of course. This can be done by selecting information given by local people. Caves can also be found using geological data. Caves can be formed only from particular rocks - limestone and marble, these being rocks which cannot be dissolved by water. Sometimes the entrances of the caves are filled up, so the explorers have to search for the entrance of the cave. That process can take a long time. Sometimes it takes two or three months. An example of such a cave is the cave PPD, situated near the village Bosnek in the Vitosha area. It took nearly a year to reveal the entrance.

"The second stage is the exploration of the cave, of all the cave galleries. The aim of the cave exploration is to find out what it looks like. Then all the recorded information is used for the mapping of the cave. It is a long, slow process which is sometimes very boring. The map consists of the exact description of the cave. There is also detailed information about how you can reach its entrance. The last stage is the scientific research, which can only be done by cave experts. They investigate the cave animals, predominantly insects and bats. Very interesting and important is the investigation of the underground waters. This research is very pertinent today, because it is estimated that the underground rivers which take their sources from the caves most often are used for drinking by people."

In the last 12 months Helectit has explored 19 new caves across the country. Among them were Cherepishkata Peshtera, Kopanata, Ronia, Jamata u Plochaka, Jamata na Klokotish, Peshtera Daksa, Monetarnicata, Strazhica, Zdravchi Kamuk, Konuscheto, Krepostna, Chetrivhodnata, Plochata, Piasuchnica and others. The longest of these is Cherepishkata Peshtera - at 602m. For many years Helectit has also been heavily involved in mapping unexplored caves and potholes.

The oldest and the most experienced members of Helectit found a good opportunity for schooling the youngest and least-experienced last March in the region of the village Karlukovo, district Lovetch.

They penetrated the potholes of Temnata dupka, Cherni Vruh and Belite Ezera and tried to clear the entrance of a newly discovered precipice in Grigora area. All the peculiarities of the explored areas were registered then in the maps and put into the official club records.

Last year the cave club Helectit won an award in the annual competition for the most significant speleological discovery in Bulgaria for its project encompassing the exploration and mapping of Cherepishkata Peshtera which rises above the river Iskar, more precisely in its pass through the Balkans.

Next month Helectit has investigative expeditions planned at the Paramun, near the towns Breznik and Trun in West Bulgaria and Ravna in West Bulgaria region.

In October Alexei Zhalov and Ivan Aleksiev explored the cave Bogova Livada at the area Gintsi near the village Gintsi which is situated at Petrohan Balkans in north-west Bulgaria.

"Nearly 4,700 maps of explored caves are preserved in the card-index of the Bulgarian Speleology Federation. There are also detailed documents and records concerning the processes of their exploration. There are many photos of the activities of Helectit available," Mr Zhalov said.

Helectit's members have also taken part at many foreign expeditions. With the ambition to test their ability to explore the deepest potholes, nine explorers from Helectit decided to participate to the expedition to explore the 774m deep pothole Abiso Emilio Komichi in Italy. Four of them did it.

Said Mr Zhalov: "It was a big success for the club Helectit in general. It was not the only foreign expedition we participated in. Our members also travelled to the former Soviet Union."

In 1990, Helectit actually organised two expeditions abroad. In the first, Alexei Zhalov and four other speleologists went to China and with their Chinese colleagues conducted geological, hydrogeological and speleological explorations. The Bulgarian team investigated, explored and made maps of nine caves and potholes, all of them 4km long.

The second expedition was in Uzbekistan - a team of nine people from Helectit, one from the Edelweis club and another from the Vitosha club took part. In 1991 they started investigations in Albania. Not only Helectit but some members and other renowned Bulgarian speleologists started their first observations and mapping of five caves.

The Bulgarian Speleological Federation consists of 33 cave clubs from across the country - nearly 500 people in all. It has also established good relationships with many similar international organisations. The federation is one of the 60 members of the International Speleological Union of Unesco. Bulgarians Iavor Shopov and Trifon Daaliiski are also members of the jury responsible for dealing with problems of preservation and salvation of caves. During the last 20 years the Bulgarian Speleological Federation established still closer ties with the Speleological Federation of France. The two countries signed a contract for collaboration. The federation's future plans contain nearly 30 new research projects.

The Bulgarian Speleology Federation always welcomes new members. It also organises educational beginner's courses and courses for instructors.