After ploughing through mountains of emails, catching up with work duties and restoring their Butter consumption The Badgers have got the Preliminary Report ready. We've sent a copy off to the Oman Ministry of Tourism and our kind sponsors will be receiving their copies shortly.
In the mean time for those of you salivating to hear of our exploits here is the report and a few photos to whet your appetites for more.

Oman_Expedition_Report.pdf

The final report is forthcoming and will contain more details, more and bigger photos, surveys and other useful information.

Watch this space.

The five intrepid, tired, smelly Badgers sit in Muscat airport, their journey coming to a close, soon to return to the sett with many stories of intrigue, daring adventure and pendulous drops.....

Standby for the full report which will include:

• The survey of a new discovery.
• A description of the descent and survey of a colossal open sink hole and cave.
• Photographic treats from the magnificent Majlis Al Jinn
• The biological repercussions of 11x atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide on Badgers.
• The official Buttered Badger Oman Expedition menu.
• And much more.......

The week got off to a magnificent start with an email from the Ghar Parau Foundation confirming that our application had been successfully received and we have been awarded a grant of £500 towards our expedition.

In recognition of the contributions our sponsors are making we have set up a web page to advertise the companies and to say thank you. You can find the page here - http://butteredbadger.com/index.php/oman/our-sponsors

In other news:

• We may be joined in Dhofar by a representative of the Oman Ministry of Tourism.
• We are also expecting to take delivery of the 9mm rope generously donated by Marlow Ropes Ltd.
• There are only 38 days left till we fly out.

The final week is upon us before we jet off to the 30^oC heat of the Arabian Peninsula in search of Omans caves. It's amazing how quickly it has come upon us and it doesn't seem that long ago that we were stood around Badger HQ wondering where we could go for some caving fun. The final few elements of the trip are being sorted out. Kit has been divided up and is ready to be packed. We're making sure we have enough batteries for headlamps, cameras & GPS units, suitable clothes for the arid conditions and access to water containers and something to put in them to make sure we don't end up dessicated.

We've been joined this week by Speedy (Hire) Plc as another sponsor. Speedy will be loaning us a couple of gas monitors to keep us safe from potential build ups of CO₂ and H₂S in the caves which are associated with the break down of guano. Some of the guano is from the trogloditic bats but the majority is washed in during the monsoon season and has been produced by the numerous goats that are kept on the land above.

Many thanks to Speedy for the loan of this vital equipment. We've updated our sponsors page so you can find out more about them and the services they offer.