MORE PICTURES FROM INDIA (Captions by Richard Freeman)

Pintu, one of our guides, who found a mysterious bone in Siju caves

Me in Siju cave, looking for bones

Chris, Adam and I outside of Siju Cave, where a village headman reported an encounter with a mande-barung



Chris and Dave on an old-fashioned jungle suspension bridge, minus Johnny Weissmuller

The beautiful Simsang River where the sankuni, a huge mystery snake, has been reported.

ADAM DAVIES ON THE FORTHCOMING EXPEDITION

Hi Jon,

Here are my thoughts on the India expedition:

In January 2009 I was in Nepal leading a team searching for evidence of the `Abominable Snowman` for a documentary on the History Channel. One of the team members was Ian Redmond O.B.E, the U.N. Ambassador for Gorillas. He informed me that he had received some potentially quite credible stories coming out of the Meghalya area of India, about a large Yeti-like creature living in the jungles there. He advised me to check them out. I had heard of the supposed existence of the creature before, but the more I delved into the accounts, the more fascinated I became. Not only do accounts go back centuries, but a large body of very recent sightings had been gathered by a very credible researcher and his team - Dipu Marak. So, in synopsis, I made contact with Dipu, and began to put together a team with my old CFZ buddies Dave, Richard and Chris. We are also to be joined this time by a first class field researcher in Jonathan McGowan. Our objective has to be to bring back scientific evidence of the creature, which can be independantly verified. On a personal note, I would really love to see it, but I realise that's a big ask.

The area where we will be searching is very remote jungle and hard to traverse, so I will be asking a lot from the team. That said, I am sure we will have a great time in the process. This expedition has great potential. So, off we go, and everything crossed!!!

P.S. The young lady who interviewed Richard was charming. Great idea.

Adam.

PRESS RELEASE

On 31st of October the CFZ 2010 expedition leaves England. They will be exploring the Garo Hills in Northern India in search of the mande-burung or Indian yeti. The five-man team consists of team leader Adam Davies, Dr Chris Clark, Dave Archer, field naturalist Jonathan McGowan, and cryptozoologist Richard Freeman.

The creatures are described as being up to ten feet tall, with predominantly black hair. Most importantly, they are said to walk upright like a man. Walking apes have been reported in the area for many years. These descriptions sound almost identical to those reported in neighbouring Bhutan and Tibet. Witnesses report that the mande-burung, which translates as forest man, is most often seen in the area in November.

The Garo Hills are a heavily forested and poorly explored area in Meghalaya state in the cool northern highlands of India. The area is internationally renowned for its wildlife, which includes tigers, bears, elephants and Indian rhino and clouded leopards.

The Indian team will be led by Dipu Marek, a local expert who has been on the trail of the Indian yeti for a number of years and has found both its nests and 19-inch-long `footprints` on previous occasions. The expedition team has also arranged to interview eyewitnesses who have seen the Mande-Burung.

Camera traps will be set up in sighting areas in the hope of catching one of the creatures on film.

The Mande-Burung may be a surviving form of a giant ape known from its fossilised teeth and jaw bones, called Gigantopithecus blacki, which lived in the Pleistocene epoch around three hundred thousand years ago. This creature is of course extinct. However, much contemporary fauna such as the giant panda, the Asian tapir and the Asian elephant that lived alongside the monster ape, still survive today. It is thought by many that Gigantopithecus also survives in the impenetrable jungles and mountains of Asia. Its closest known relatives are the Orangutans of Sumatra and Borneo.

Last year the team, who investigate mystery animals all over the world, travelled to Sumatra in search of a small, bipedal ape known as the orang pendek. Dave Archer and local guide Sahar Didmus saw the creature and the group brought back hair that was later analysed by Dr Lars Thomas at the University of Copenhagen. The DNA proved to be similar to an orangutan's, an animal not found in that part of Sumatra.