South Africa Cave Dive: Recovery Mission
4/29/202654 min
This is the story of the deepest underwater human recovery mission ever attempted. A daring and noble task that has profound consequences. Skilled divers Don Shirley and Dave Shaw are exploring South Africa’s legendary Bushman’s Hole - an enormous, pitch-black, flooded cave - when they uncover a body. The macabre discovery kickstarts an audacious retrieval operation. But in this hostile environment, there is no room for error… A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. Written by Heléna Lewis | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound Supervisor: Matt Peaty | Sound design by Jacob Booth | Assembly edit by Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley. For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at support@noiser.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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John Hopkins· Host0:30
[birds chirping] It's Thursday, October the 28th, 2004. In South Africa, the undulating plains of the Kalahari Desert stretch out beneath a pale sky. The ochre-colored earth and scrub brush warmed by the brilliant sunshine. But in an isolated corner of the country's Northern Cape Province, this vast rolling expanse is suddenly interrupted, punctured by an enormous sinkhole, as if a titan's fist has punched through the landscape, leaving a deep, gaping wound in the ground. The walls of the abyss plunge down towards a small duckweed-covered pond below. At first sight, there is nothing remarkable about it. But beneath the surface, this pool opens up into a spectacular bell-shaped chamber, a submerged natural